Ragnarok
by onryoii
Summary: As a young troll, Gamzee Makara found a friend in Tavros. He never expected his best friend to be the son of a traitor sent to spy on them in the safety of their castle from the blood war raging across Alternia. When he was sentenced to death, he never thought he'd end up back in his life again. AU.
1. The Beginning

Childish laughter bounced off the empty halls that helped to make up the foundation of the castle which had been dubbed the Court of Miracles by the subjugglators who'd built it as a place to drag in prisoners or those that were to stand trial.

And it also housed the Grand Highblood himself in the residential section away from the other half where trials and meetings were held.

The fearsome reputation of the Grand Highblood was well known throughout the land but the same couldn't be said for his son, Gamzee Makara. The small grub he had been at one point had grown into a small, energetic troll at the age of four sweeps with a knack for getting into trouble with the personnel of the castle.

And matters only got worse for them whenever Orphaner Dualscar decided to drop by to visit and brought along his son.

"Makara, hold on for a glubbin' sec!"

The two boys slowed to a stop once they were outside and under the light of the two moons that glowed brightly against the dark sky. Panting to catch their breath, the two young trolls wandered their way down to the stretch of beach not too terribly far from the castle itself and plopped themselves down onto the sand with a heavy sighs.

Laying in silence for a moment, Eridan sat up to rummage in the pocket of his pants for a few carrots they'd stolen from the kitchens as Gamzee did the same. "Why on Alternia did you need these anyways?" He drawled, wrinkling his nose in distaste at the glowing, green vegetables and handed them over to Gamzee who accepted them with a toothy grin to combine them with his own carrots. Standing, he made his way to the water that lapped lazily against the sand, "Cause, bro, I motherfuckin' needed to get a snack for my goatdad." He replied before stepping on the back heel of his shoe with one foot to pry it off before repeating the process with another; though nearly fell on his face the second time.

Wading into the water a bit, it didn't take long for a white nose to appear through the surface to snort softly at Gamzee, sending a spray of water into the air which made the boy laugh. The rest of the large head of his lusus appeared above the water to sniff at him before taking the carrots from his outstretched palms to munch on for a moment. The lazy smile on Gamzee's face only turned into a grin as a long purple tongue slid out from the muzzle of his goatdad to lick against his face before the lusus turned and disappeared back into the water.

"That is disgustin'…" Eridan mused at the sight of the purple saliva slathered across his friend's face.

"No way, bro. It's just how he gets his motherfuckin' love on. Don't your seahorsedad do that?" He ventured, taking a moment to wipe off the saliva before splashing his way back onto the beach.

"Oh, for glub's sake, no." Eridan couldn't help but shudder at the thought.

The two boys sat together on the sand for a while more, watching as the white shape of Gamzee's lusus broke the surface of the water now and then. Since their parents were so busy, they'd each gotten a lusus to help raise them where their parents didn't have time to mess with them. As it turned out, neither of Gamzee's 'parents' spent much time with him but goatdad gave him the affection his actual father wouldn't. But, as Gamzee saw it, the dude had a good motherfucking reason to be all shut up and such. Couldn't have the Grand Highblood seen as any sort of 'weak'. But it was fine, Gamzee had own ways to entertain himself.

"Did you hear that?"

Blinking some, a curious expression turned onto his violet-blooded companion who was staring off a ways down the beach towards a cluster of rocks, the fins of his ears perked up to try to detect whatever noise he'd heard.

Shrugging, Gamzee leaned back on his hands, "Probably nothin', just relax, dude."

"No! I'm positive I damn well heard somefin'!"

Gamzee wasn't going to argue with him and merely looked back out onto the water until Eridan suddenly got up and slipped off quietly. Pursing his lips in a thoughtful manner, he watched Eridan disappear behind a rock. For a moment, it was quiet until he heard a startled yelp and a slur of curses in Eridan's oddly accented manner. Standing, he figured it was time to see what he was all worked up about now and crawled over the rocks to peer over one. "What's got all up an-…" He trailed off as his gaze landed on a small boy that was pinned underneath Eridan and trying vainly to struggle out of his grip on his collar.

Sliding down the rock, Gamzee frowned, "Woah, woah. How 'bout we all calm the motherfuck down? Eridan, let the motherfucker up."

"No way! He hit me with some glubbin' driftwood!"

"That ain't very friendly like." Gamzee agreed with a frown before shooing away Eridan with a casually wave of his hands before pulling the ambushed troll to his feet though he was quick to shy away from the two once he was on his feet. Eridan wiped away a streak of violet blood from his cheek that had leaked from the small cut against his head from the attack and glowered silently at the odd boy.

"Hey, you have a name?" Gamzee ventured, prodding at the boy with a finger to get his attention but he merely kept his head ducked low. Reaching out a hand, he instead grabbed hold of one of the bullish horns on his head and gave a tug that made him stagger to the side with a yelp.

"Hey, I said, do you gotta name?"

Seeing as how he was cornered, the boy turned his soft brown eyes tentatively upwards to examine the fluffy haired troll speaking to him before quacking look back down, "Uhm…T-Tavros…"

"All right, Tav. How old are you?"

"T-three sweeps…"

"What're you all up and motherfuckin' doin' out here at this time of night?"

The boy hesitated a moment before speaking, "I was sent out to find you. Someone saw you leaving and sent me after."

"A lowblood servant, no doubt." Eridan mused observantly with a scoff.

Gamzee dismissed his comment and delivered a sold smack onto the smaller boy's back with a grin, "Well, come on, we'll get you motherfuckin' cleaned up." He ignored any protests on Tavros' part as he ushered him back up to the castle while Eridan trailed after them, muttering under his breath.

Making their way through the castle, Gamzee stopped outside a large set of double doors and burst inside with a grin, "Equius, what's up motherfucker?"

Instantly, the indigo-blooded troll stiffened at the greeting and swallowed thickly, pausing in the middle of hammering a strip of glowing hot metal, "O-oh…h-hello…sirs…" Two highbloods in one room, this was not good for his nerves, he could already feel himself starting to panic. "If you are here to see my father, please, wait one moment and I shall fetch him…" He set down his tools to move but Gamzee shook his head, "No way, we're here to see you, brother." Clearly he'd caught him off guard with the request for he faltered and nearly paled to an ashen gray, "Oh…whatever for?"

"We need you to fix up some motherfuckers." He declared, pushing Eridan and Tavros forward; both with minor scratches and cuts from their tussling.

"Oh dear, what happened?" Equius mused, stepping forward to assess the damage.

"Awww, nothin' really. I just figured you were the best motherfucker for the job since you are all good with fixin' shit."

"Despite your vulgar tongue, highblood, I must say you speak too highly of me. I am merely good with matters of armor and weapons…not wounds. But, I shall do my best." He agreed, turning to leave.

Returning a few moments later with a bowl of water and bandages, he began to gently dab at the scratches and cuts on the pair, wiping away the blood and using small slivers of bandages to place against cuts that were more open and visible.

"There, I am finished." He stated before stepping away.

Circling the pair with a thoughtful hum, Gamzee clapped Equius on the shoulder with a grin, "Motherfuckin' quality work, my man. Thanks so much. I owe you one." He stated, moving the two towards the door while Equius flushed in response, "N-no…it was nothing at all, highblood, I assure you."

Once they were out of the workshop, Tavros spoke up at once, "Th-thank you…and…all that, but, uh…I- I really have to get going. You know, before I get yelled at for taking so, uh, long…"

Gamzee was a bit disappointed that their new friend had to leave so soon but he complied with a nod. Low-blood servants were treated a bit more seriously in the castle. "Yeah, okay, bro…" He began, watching him turn to leave but was quick to think of something and caught the back of his shirt before he could leave, "You'll come back though, right?" He demanded, "I mean, you seem cool and a motherfucker should have fun now and then so you can hang with us… When Eridan's here anyways, otherwise it's just me." He stated, flashing a grin. Eridan scowled some at how carelessly Gamzee had included him in his affairs but let it slide considering he didn't visit all that much anyways.

Somewhat startled by the request, Tavros eyed the smiling troll before giving a careful nod of agreement, "Uh, y-yeah, of course…" He was quick to scamper off as he was released and Gamzee turned back to Eridan with a grin.

"You know you're just askin' for trouble…"

Aw, don't be like that. What my dad doesn't know won't motherfuckin' hurt him." Though he had gotten in trouble more than once already for associating with low-bloods, what was one more?

Over the course of the next sweep, the meetings with Tavros were on a fairly constant basis. At first, the younger troll was shut up tight like a clam but seemed to become more lax and calm around Gamzee as time passed though it didn't change the time when they met; it was always at night and never any time earlier. He thought nothing of it though and waited through the day in excitement for when his best friend would show up again.

Until one day, he didn't show up at all; nor the day after that, or the one after that.

Missing one night wasn't odd, but so many days in a row was a new occurrence and he was starting to get nervous.

Sighing some, the troll swung down out of the tree he'd been sprawled out in and hopped to the ground. Brushing pieces of bark from his hands, he looked up to see Eridan scampering down the hill towards him. Grinning at once, Gamzee ran over to meet him half way.

"Eridan, my motherfucker! How-"

"Not now, Gam. We have a problem."

The way he'd said it in such an urgent tone made the grin on his face dissolve a little, "A problem? What kinda problem? Like, forgot-to-change-my-sopor-slime kinda problem?" He ventured with a nervous chuckle.

Eridan frowned sternly and shook his head, "No. More like a your-dad-has-Tavros-in-a-trial kinda problem."

That was all it took to send Gamzee running off with Eridan on his heels for the council room. The two burst into the room only to be greeted with the miffed looks of the elder trolls who turned to see what the disturbance was. Gamzee ignored them and wasted no time in scampering down the flight of steps to take up a stance next to Tavros who was seated in a chair in the middle of the ring of spectators and was clearly, absolutely terrified. Eridan noted his father eyeing him from across the room and cringed some before timidly making his way over to where the man was standing and shooting him a disapproving look; quite aware, obviously, of his son slipping away to go alert Gamzee.

"Gamzee…"

Looking up from Tavros to the figure seated in a chair at the other end of the circle on a raised platform, Gamzee frowned at the sight of the mass of his father glowering down at him through his dark bangs; fingers curled irritably around the armrest of the chair.

"What do you think you're motherfuckin' doing?" He hissed darkly.

"What do you think you're doin', dad?" He shot back, trying not to flinch under the sudden intensity of his glare. "Tavros hasn't done anything! He-"

"Is a traitorous lowblood."

Gamzee trailed off with a confused expression, "What? No, he-"

"Was caught going through official papers without consent. We even found some on him when he was caught."

"What?" Purple eyes turned to Tavros who was looking in an ashamed manner at the floor beneath his feet.

Standing, the Grand Highblood made his way down the flight of stairs to stand before his son with a snarl, "And the vile grub of a traitorous bastard himself. Aren't I right? I bet I am, these sorts of features don't come by people easily, Summoner spawn."

The Summoner…

Now that he really took a time to think about it, yes, Gamzee could see that this was a close resemblance to the Summoner himself. "You're…his son?" He ventured and felt his stomach twist uncomfortably at the meek nod he got in response. Not out of revulsion at the thought of speaking with someone who was a traitor to the realm, but more out of fear for him.

"Redglare."

And that was why.

Looking up quickly as his father summoned the woman to come forward, he watched in stunned state as the woman strode out of the shadows to give a brief bow before straightening up, "How my I be of service, Highblood?

"Kill the grub. Send his head to his father."

Redglare glanced over to the boy in the chair who had obviously paled at the thought for a moment before giving a small nod, "Yes, of course." Reaching out a hand, she grabbed hold of Tavros' arm and wrenched him out of the chair to drag off towards the set of doors.

Finding his voice, Gamzee rounded on his father, "Dad, wait just a motherfuckin' second!" He was silenced as the troll's hand lashed out with a solid smack to his face that sent him sprawling with a busted lip. Dazed, he didn't register the pain for a moment and merely watched the purple blood drip onto the floor.

"Silence. You will not order me around, Gamzee. You clearly forget who your superiors are and where your own place lies."

Getting to his feet, Gamzee licked the blood away, "But, Tavros, he's…he's my friend, you can't just-"

"I can do what I motherfuckin' damn well please, boy." He hissed, grabbing Gamzee's horn to pull him off his feet with a growl, "He is a low-blood and the son of a traitor. Friendship is nothing, let alone with those kinds of trolls." He stated before tossing him back onto the ground and marching out of the room, "Darkleer! Follow me!" He called to the executioner who nodded.

"No, Dad, wait!" Gamzee called, getting to his feet to tail after them, "Don't do this to Tavros!" He ran smack into the leg of the taller troll as he came to a stop and toppled back onto the ground. "Tavros? No, I'm leaving him to Redglare. Darkleer is for your lusus." He stated before grabbing hold of Gamzee to tote him off towards the water.

His lusus…

It took him a moment to figure it out and he began squirming. "No, no! You can't! He motherfuckin' took care of me!"

"Exactly. Clearly he's failed in raising you and should be punished. Now, summon it." He demanded, dropping Gamzee into the shallow water with a frown.

Staying on his knees, Gamzee tried to swallow down the clenching in his throat as best he could but the transparent, purple liquid began to well into his eyes anyways.

"Summon it!"

Calling out to the lusus with his mind, he choked back a sob as the water stirred and the form of his lusus appeared, not phased at all by the presence of the two other trolls nearby. Before he could even blink, Darkleer had stepped forward with a massive sword and hoisted it into the air. The blade whistled softy and that was that. A thin line of blood appeared over the white neck of his lusus before the head fell away entirely and both portions of the body crashed into the shallow surf with a splash.

Staring in shock as the purple blood oozed into the water, Gamzee finally found the strength to get to his feet and splashed through the blood-tainted water to the head of his lusus and threw himself onto the muzzle of it with a sob, clinging to the white fur desperately.

Eyeing his son bitterly, the Grand Highblood snorted, "It is time you grew up, Gamzee." He drawled before turning to walk away with Darkleer whom had hoisted the blood-stained sword over a shoulder, leaving Gamzee to cry over his lusus and friend.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so, this is my first homestuck fanfic. c: I just finished reading the comic today and I LOVE IT! So I'll definately be doing more fanfics of Homestuck as well.**

**And this is an intro of sorts. xD You'll find out the actual story in the next chapter. Btw, I picked green carrots because have you seen Alternia? I doubt they would have normal-pigmented food there. Lol. And it was more fun to picture. So, yeah, ignore my ramblings. Thanks for reading/following this story!**

**And Sober!Gamzee as in he's not so mellow and lax in this story but not completely batshit crazy either...or is he? CB**


	2. Reminiscence

_5 Sweeps Later_

A violet banner lined in black that was tattered and torn unfurled gently in a passing breeze, revealing the Capricorn symbol emblazed in a lighter shade of purple in the middle.

The abused cloth was grabbed as it fluttered lazily in the air and ripped from the wooden post that was stuck in the ground… Well, _into_ the ground. The point of the wood had been driven through the torso of some poor, green-blooded pest that had managed to get in the way of whoever had been carrying the flag in the process.

Releasing the reigns of his Horsaroni to grab the limp end of the banner, Gamzee pulled the fabric taught to examine the symbol of his blood color on the flag. His gaze slid briefly towards the spot of green that was splashed against the violet fabric and rubbed at it absently with his thumb; smearing the color against the purple and the skin of his thumb.

At first it was simply a small whisper that tickled the back of his mind but the noise soon spread as he gazed out across the now-quiet battlefield…or what remained of it. The dead low-bloods and high-bloods lay scattered about the land in their own, vibrant puddles of blood. There were even a few dead hoofbeasts lying about that had no doubt been commandeered by the Summoner to help his men with the upcoming battle.

"_Blood."_

"_So much motherfucking blood."_

"_Kill-"_

"_Kill-"_

"_KIL-"_

"Gam." The teen was snapped from his concentration at the sudden voice that sounded behind him. Violet eyes turned away from the battlefield to lock onto a familiar face nearby.

"Eridan…" He greeted in return after a moment before tucking away the banner into the pocket of his pants. As customary with battle and wars, Gamzee had finally grown to the age sweeps ago when he was to join the battles taking place. His father had granted him with a set of clothes similar to his own; black and purple in color, of course; a striped vest with matching vambraces, a black undershirt with his blood symbol on it and black and purple polka dotted pants. When he'd survived his first battle his father had even allowed him to pick a design for the face paint all subjugglators wore to strike more fear into the hearts of their enemies. A bit comical but the subjugglators were no laughing matter and, true to the idea, he'd realized he was not a welcome sight on the battlefield when an unfortunate low-blood fell in his line of sight.

He seemed to be developing the same reputation as his father already.

Eridan Ampora himself was also decked in proper battle attire to show his blood lineage. The outfit wasn't all that different from his father's but not a near exact replica like Gamzee's. The top was black and purple with the Aquarius design wrapped around the middle and a pair of purple and black striped pants that were tucked neatly into his boots. Thrown around his shoulders was a deep purple cape that was secured neatly with a golden chain. At the moment, however, his cape looked like someone had splashed a canvas with a rainbow of colors from the blood that had splattered on it.

The seadweller urged his own Horsaroni up beside Gamzee with a small frown as he calculated his face, "What is it?" A quick smirk spread over the subjugglator's face and he shook his head, "Nothing. I'm all up and happy as a clam, motherfucker."

"…You know, you're a terrible liar, Gam."

The smirk slid away with a simple frown at the troll gritted his teeth together in irritation.

"It's the voices again, ain't it?"

Gamzee made no reply for a moment.

"Oh, for glub's sake, Gam. Look!" He declared, grabbing the troll's arm to reveal the cu that and was still dripping some of the violet blood in his veins as Eridan held up his own hand that had been sliced.

"We're nearly the same glubbin' blood color which means we're practically brothers. You know you can talk to me if you want."

Gamzee studied the richer shade of purple that was Eridan's blood before chuckling, "Naw, bro. You think too motherfuckin' much. Can't a motherfucker just bask in another miracle in silence? Let's head back so we can get our motherfuckin' celebratin' on." Another victorious battle called for food and drink after all.

Before Eridan could venture further, Gamzee gave the reigns a quick tug and the dark colored Horsaroni let out a small screech before turning to gallop off back towards the direction of home with Eridan close behind.

They'd managed to catch up with the precession of soldiers that had been riding ahead of them and fell into the lead up front as they approached the castle. Immediately upon arrival, they were greeted with the shouts and cheers of the high-bloods that hadn't gone to fight.

The crowd fell silent as the large doors to the entrance of the Court of Miracles opened and the Grand Highblood himself stepped out to examine the remaining numbers that had returned and nodded with approval. "Good, a fair motherfuckin' number more than the low-blood scum had, I'm sure." He drawled, earning a small chuckle from the crowd at the thought of their enemy that hadn't been doing so well as of late.

Striding closer, the Grand Highblood stopped before the two teens who were getting off of their Horsaroni's which were ushered away to the stables by some low-blooded servants.

"I see you're still alive, Gamzee."

The troll knelt to greet his father as was customary before standing, "Yes, father, it's gonna take a bit motherfuckin' more than a few low-bloods to all up and kill a motherfucker."

A toothy grin spread across the large troll's face and he nodded, "Motherfuckin' well said. I would be disappointed if you said otherwise." His attention then turned to Eridan who moved to kneel as well but the Highblood shook his and waved his hand, "Ampora, you forget you are of a higher rank on the hemospectrum. I demand no such action of you."

The Aquarius gave a small nod before adjusting his grip on Ahab's Crosshair's that was settled down against his side. Highblood gave the weapon a brief glance before his dark violet eyes focused back onto the young troll, "Tell me. Have you located the killer?"

An uncomfortable look crossed Eridan's face and he glanced downwards before shaking his head briefly. It wasn't a secret that Dualscar had had an unfortunate run in with Mindfang and it had ended, well, badly, obviously. The troll had been killed but they'd found his weapon near his body and had given it to his son.

"A pity. Hurry up and locate the motherfucker before Redglare gets too antsy with her justice business and seeks out the spider herself." He mused before turning back to the troops standing nearby. "Today was a great victory and there will be more to come! We'll soon enough crush the low-blood scum until none is left to rebel!"

Shouts of agreement rung before they dispersed into groups of laughter and chatter to prepare for the feast that was at hand within a few hours.

Eridan and Gamzee made their own way off to get their minor injuries treated and to change from their blood-covered clothes into new sets.

It felt nice to take a bath after a hard fight and relax. Slouching into the warm waters of his personal bath, Gamzee closed his eyes. It was only when he felt himself starting to drift off to sleep did he sit up more to rub at his eyes, smearing some lingering face paint in the process and scowled. Scooping a handful of water, he splashed it onto his face to rinse off the residue before lifting his gaze to the wall across from him where various other banners similar to the ones he'd taken earlier were stuck. If one took the time to count they'd see there was a solid twenty-five flags there, all in the same condition, all that he'd brought back with him ever since his first battle.

Little souvenirs one could say. All of the subjugglators took souvenirs away from their victories but Gamzee wasn't all too motherfuckin' fond of the idea of sticking skulls up around his room like his father was.

Getting out of the water, Gamzee grabbed a towel to dry off and wandered his way into his room to dig out a new set of clothes. He had most of the same outfits since his father demanded he look presentable to the public but he did have a few that were for casual times.

When he _had _time for 'casual' time anyways.

Having painted on a fresh new layer of paint onto his face, he was in the process of securing down a vambrace as he left his room when Eridan exited his own quarters. "Oh, Gam, hey."

The two walked in silence down the hall, occasionally passed up by a few trolls who chatted between themselves happily and the lingering laughter rung off the walls as they disappeared around a corner.

Eridan's eyes slid towards Gamzee who was staring blankly ahead as they walked. Deciding to try to strike up a conversation, the seadweller smiled, "It feels like glubbin' ages since I've been back here… We've certainly grown quite a lot since way back when, huh?" It'd only felt like a few weeks since they were running around and laughing, causing mayhem and what not. The male sighed and ran a hand through his neat hair, "But, guess that's what comes with growin' up and everyfin'."

"Too motherfuckin' true, my fishy brother." Gamzee replied with a small nod but that was about all Eridan got out of him. The fins of Eridan's ears wilted lightly in response. As much as he used to complain about Gamzee's out of control behavior when they were small, he had to admit that he kind of glubbin' missed it now. Amazing what one's own father, quite literally, smacking some sense into you could do.

The awkward silence didn't linger long as a shrill scream echoed off the walls that caused Eridan to clap his hands over his ear-fins and Gamzee even cringed a bit as well.

"EEEERIDAN! GAMZEEEEEE!"

"Oh glub…" Eridan drawled woefully just before he was tackled to the ground. Gamzee could only watch as the girl that had grabbed the seadweller hugged onto the unfortunate troll who was squirming to get out of the crushing hug.

"Oh my cod, Fef! You're goin' to fuckin' crush a rib or somefin'!" He grunted, gasping for air once he was finally released.

"Oooh, I'm so sorry, Eridan. But I haven't seen you in so long, I just couldn't kelp myself!" The girl tucked her wavy hair behind an ear-fin before turning to Gamzee with a toothy grin. "Gamzee! Look at you! You've gotten even bigger since I last saw you!" She cooed, latching onto the troll to give him a hug as well.

Blinking, Gamzee was a bit unsure of what to do. He was saved though as a smoother, more mature voice sounded next to them.

"My, my, you two have indeed grown."

Both sets of eyes turned towards the Empress and Eridan gave a quick bow though Gamzee had more issues with the action since the seadweller's daughter was latched onto him at the moment.

"I've heard we had another victory. Well done. Let's try to keep it that way, hm? I have to go talk to your father, Gamzee. Feferi, be good and try not to kill the landdweller, hm? You don't know your own strength apparently."

Feferi giggled in response before watching the woman walk off down the hall, earning quick bows and murmurs of greetings as she went from the trolls nearby.

The trio waited until she was gone before Gamzee looked back to Feferi who'd made it a point not to let him go just yet and smiled brightly. After a moment of staring, a smile crept over his lips and Gamzee lifted a hand to pat her wavy locks of hair, "How's it motherfuckin' going, sis?"

The girl grinned and released Gamzee in favor of grabbing onto his arm and dragging him off down the hall; doing the same to Eridan's arm before she dissolved into an energetic ball of chatter.

Despite the chaos going on outside the walls, it was nice to be able to be a kid for a little while again.


	3. Chance Encounter

"F-fuckin'…high-…bloods."

"Eridan, I told you not to drink that much..."

Gamzee took a small sip from the cup of blood wine- a beverage that all highbloods indulged upon- while casting a brief glance over to Eridan who was slumped over the table, a hand curled tightly around his own drink in a white-knuckled grip as another hiccup wracked his frame and he muttered a slur of nearly incoherent curses.

Feferi's dark lips pursed together softly as she watched the fellow seadweller, hands wrapped gracefully around her cup. Despite the previous group of trolls that had been dining with them in the hall, she somehow managed to hold herself in a dignified and proper manner that Gamzee was certain she'd picked up from her mother. He himself was leaning on his free arm while he idly rolled his cup between his lanky fingers.

"That's what you get for not motherfuckin' listening." He mused, smirking as the male lifted his hand wearily and flipped him a finger.

Feferi sighed and took the seadweller's hand and folded down the offending digit before placing a hand on his back and began to rub in a soft, circular motion, "Come on, you stupid glubber. It's time you got to bed."

"I don't w-wanna…" Eridan protested meekly, going limp at once as Feferi stood to wrap her arms underneath his own in an attempt to pull him off the bench.

"Gamzee."

While the display was rather amusing, he figured he'd help the poor girl out and stood with a smile, "Move aside, sis."

As she released him into Gamzee's care, the subjugglator wrapped his arms around Eridan's waist and hauled him up with a small grunt.

"I sw-..wear to cod, Gam, if you don't put me down I'm gonna-" He was silenced immediately but the sudden swimming of his vision as he was swung over a shoulder and hauled off out of the empty hall.

The male's grumbling and whining was ignored as Gamzee made off for his room, Feferi jogging to catch up to the older troll and fell into step beside him. "Thanks a ton, Gamzee."

"Not a motherfuckin' problem, sis. You know I'm glad to help you out."

He really was. Gamzee used the terminology on Terezi as well but Feferi was, in fact, practically a sister to him. She always seemed to find a way to make him feel better even if he himself didn't know he was feeling down. The seadwellers were really the only two his father approved of him talking to and it was minimal acceptance with Equius and Terezi. At least he wasn't talking to the lowbloods anymore.

Feferi bounded ahead to open Eridan's door for Gamzee who followed after her. Depositing Eridan unceremoniously onto a chair, he helped the girl switch the disoriented troll's clothes before helping lead him to the shallow pool of green slime that made up their beds. Kneeling down to ease him into it, Eridan soon fell asleep moments after his head nestled back into the cool substance. Removing his arms, he stood up to examine the slime for a moment. He'd remembered trying to eat it when he was younger just out of curiosity and it'd certainly been one hell of a trip but he'd kicked the habit after the incident with his father and Tavros.

"He's not going to drown or something, right?"

"The motherfucker can breathe underwater, I don't think he can all up and suffocate himself on air too."

Feferi shot him a look and Gamzee smirked, "Nah, he'll be motherfuckin' fine, sis." He hadn't heard of anyone drowning in sopor slime before and he doubted it would start now just because Eridan was a dumbass and drank too much a little too quickly. On that note, he shook the slime from his arms and hands; parting from the room to let him rest.

Feferi shut door behind them before smiling, "Well, see you tomorrow, Gamzee."

"Mhmm." He turned to go but paused as Feferi grabbed onto his arm and he thought he saw a look of concern but it was replaced by an excited grin.

"Maybe we three can go get Equius tomorrow and go with Terezi to visit the dragons. Like old times, huh?"

Gamzee caught the hopeful tone in her voice that was edged with some slight sadness and he stared quietly for a moment before nodding, "Sure motherfucking thing, sis."

She let out a happy squeal before hugging onto Gamzee and leaned up to give his cheek a quick kiss, "Good, don't stay up too late, we have a busy day tomorrow!" She declared, turning to bounce off to her room next to Eridan's.

Gamzee had been a bit thrown off by the gesture but it wasn't anything odd for Feferi to be so affectionate. Instead, he simply chuckled, turning back to slip off to his own room and made his way over to the large fireplace that occupied one of the walls the opposite side of his room. Picking up two pieces of rust colored rock, he snapped them quickly against each other, sending a spray of green sparks onto the logs within. It took mere seconds for the slow simmer of green to combust in a steady flame.

Setting the pieces of flint back onto the mantel, Gamzee turned and crossed the room to plop himself down on a chair with a heavy sigh and proceeded to fold a leg across his knee to unbuckle the clasps on his boots and pulled them off, tossing them haphazardly wherever they decided to up and land themselves. Slouching back into the hoofbeast-leather chair, Gamzee stretched his legs out in front of him as he closed his eyes. The silence was welcomed until he began to make out words through the snap and crackling of the fire. Every other snap of the wood sounded like a soft voice and began to escalate into a steady background noise of screaming and laughter from the voices of the dead. All trolls had the same problem as he did but his came with more…intensity. More than once had he found himself conversing with the voices in his head and they'd actually respond. He'd mentioned it to Eridan once out of curiosity to see if he'd had any experiences with it but he'd said he'd had nothing to that degree and Gamzee was, by no means, about to go up to his father and ask _him _about it. Perhaps it was merely something that ran in their bloodline.

It wouldn't be too surprising with how many they'd killed over the sweeps.

Violet eyes slid open to stare at his large ceiling for a moment before he twisted around in his chair to grab a small chest on the desk next to him. Drawing his legs up onto the seat in a criss-crossed position, Gamzee settled the small chest on his lap and ran his fingers lightly across the surface of the wood. Fiddling briefly with the latch nervously, he chewed softly on his lip and opened the lid. Dipping his fingers inside, he located a piece of paper and a small knife. Setting aside the box, he pressed the tip of the small blade against his finger. Not quite sharp anymore…it'd been in that box a while now and he'd never sharpened it to begin with anyways; the weapon had held little of interest to him and was only useful in using it to pick his way into locked rooms when he was little.

He had had one use for it though.

Twirling it between his fingers, he took up the piece of paper in his free hand and flipped it open with a thumb.

"_Uh…G-Gamzee?"_

The paper was crinkled in spots where it'd been folded and unfolded repeatedly over the sweeps.

"_Oh, hey, motherfucker! What's up?"_

Until he'd locked it away for good.

"_I, uh, made this for you."_

Inside was the crude drawing of two stick figures. One was a dark purple and the other a soft brown color. One wouldn't have known what it was if it hadn't been for the fluffy looking mohawk on one with the bullish horns and the mop of unruly black hair and his own long, curvy horns.

"_It's…uh…y-you and me."_

Gamzee's eyes narrowed softly as he studied the picture before glancing to the knife in his hand. He'd used that during one of his brilliant ideas as a child.

"_Hey, Tavbro! I have an idea!"_

_"W-what?"_

"_Let's be motherfuckin' blood brothers!"_

"_But, we can't! Y-you're…y'know…a highblood. You can't do something like that!"_

"_Pfft! I don't see what all the motherfuckin' fuss is about! Now c'mon, are you gonna be a scaredy-grub or what?"_

"_F-fine…"_

Blinking the thoughts away, Gamzee got up and moved back across the room to the fire. He leaned his forearm against the mantel to study the piece of paper, the green glow of the fire filtering through the thin material and illuminating it. Reaching out towards the fire with the paper, he let it hover close to the flames in a decision to let it go once and for all but his hand betrayed him and held fast onto the paper. Despite his logic, the more stubborn side of him didn't want to let it go just yet… He slowly retracted his arm and folded it up, moving back across the room to deposit the things back into the little chest.

* * *

"Nitram! Move it, you lard ass!"

A startled yelp sounded from the boy as something shoved him from the warm rock he'd been dozing on and he slid off onto the ground with a thud. Wincing at the sting of the impact, Tavros untangled himself from his heap on the ground to stagger to his feet. Rubbing the back of his neck with a grimace, the teen turned his brown eyes onto a moody troll about his own age.

"W-what was _that _for, Karkat?"

"What do you fucking think? Did you think I came all the way out here for my own fucking health?"

"Well-"

"No, don't even say anything! Just get your ass in gear and get back to camp before they send some other unfortunate fuck out here!"

Tavros grimaced but was quick to turn and run back off to the outline of tents on the horizon. For being the son of someone so highly regarded as the Sufferer, Karkat was one pissy troll…

Weaving his way through the crowd of lowbloods milling about, it didn't take him long to locate his father. Anyone could spot those large horns of his anywhere.

Upon seeing the smaller troll approaching, Summoner stopped in mid-sentence for a moment to regard him before turning back to the one he'd been speaking too, finishing up his sentence. The troll nodded and gave a brief bow before turning to run off to carry out whatever order he'd been given.

Tavros watched him disappear for a moment before looking back to his father, "Karkat came to find me. I, uh, guess it was you that sent him?"

"Yes. Tell me, how well did he take it?"

The look that must have crossed his face was answer enough it seemed for his father grinned with approval, "So I thought. Well, some exercise wouldn't hurt him." Clearly he was pleased with the thought of putting the Sufferer's grub through some work but Tavros decided to put him back on track and spoke up once more.

"You were saying?"

"Ah, yes. Well, as you know, we sent a small division out a week ago to go try to win some section of land back from the highbloods and…" He frowned softly for a moment before running a hand across his face with a sigh, "Use your imagination, I don't need to elaborate on how well that battle went. But, I'm sending a few of you out to go see if you can find any survivors. I suspect the highbloods have left by now, they don't stay long."

"Yes, father."

Bowing briefly, Tavros turned and made his way through the camp to locate his Horsaroni which wasn't hard to do when one could commune with the beasts of Alternia. He stopped at a small screech and glanced to his left to see the beast trotting its way over towards him, a long tongue slipping between its jaws to lick against his cheek.

Grinning, Tavros made a brief face as he wiped the spit from his skin with a small laugh, "That really wasn't, uh, necessary." He commented to it softly before grabbing onto the tendril that grew from the shoulder of his trusty steed and hoisted himself up onto its back. Grabbing hold of the reigns, he ushered the Horsaroni off to the edges of the camp where a small group was already awaiting him.

"Jegus, what took you so long?" Tavros shot an apologetic look towards the irritated look troll glaring at him from behind his bi-colored glasses.

"Sorry, Karkat had to come find me."

"Oh, well, that explains everything. KK would take forever just to get a message to someone." Sollux drawled in his slight lisp with a roll of his eyes and a stern frown spread across his face.

"I can hear you, fuckasses!"

"Oh, so his majesty decides to grace us with his presence."

"I will fucking end you, you dumb fuck."

"Uh, guys, shouldn't we be going?"

Somehow he'd managed to get the two to stop bickering for a second so they could start making their way towards where the previous battle had been. If it got too bad, he figured it would be a simple matter to speak to their own mounts to simply have them follow his own Horsaroni and let their inadequate riders argue with each other.

Sighing some at the thought, Tavros shook his head. But by some blessed grace, they got there with little trouble. Though the sight was less pretty than what he wanted to see, but, this was war, there was little he could do to change what happened.

His Horsaroni picked is way through the minimal space that was left between the bodies strewn about…or pieces of bodies, in some cases. The sight of blood and carnage used to make him sick to his stomach but he'd found that as he got older and was exposed to more of it, he became sort of used to it; the sight and the coppery scent that came along with it.

It didn't make the Horsaronis any less skittish about it though.

His mount let out a nervous croon but Tavros was quick to reassure it with a small pat. The group spread out to begin their search but a few minutes into it, Sollux gasped and scrambled down off his Horsaroni, "Fuck, shit, fuck!"

"What?" Karkat demanded, just as equally confused about what he was freaking out about.

"Highbloods, get your asses down you dumb fucks!"

Tavros paled and scrambled down off his Horsaroni, spreading out his mind link to the three Horsaronis with them and gently yet urgently beckoned for them to lie down. The beasts shifted uncertainly for a moment before slowly bending their legs down to ease themselves down before lying still while the three trolls were quick to play dead themselves.

It was clear all of them were scared to remotely breathe and Tavros cast a brief glance to Sollux and Karkat who were watching the ridgeline warily for the approaching riders that Sollux senses had picked up on.

Sure enough, a figure appeared but it wasn't long until another joined it. Lifting his head slowly some to get a better view, Tavros ignored the feeling of the slick blood and gore underneath him. It was better lying on dead things than becoming one of them.

However, his breath caught in his throat some as he made out the shape of the horns on one of them. That hair…and the slight curve to the horns…he knew those well.

Gamzee Makara.

He'd never thought to see him again…alive that is. But he knew better than to get up and expose himself, who knew if there were others nearby and…

And he wasn't sure if Gamzee would want to see him.

He was the traitor that his father had found him to be and, as far as he knew, he had long since been dead.

No, he instead watched in silence as he and- whom he could only assume based from the cape billowing behind him- Eridan Ampora turned and disappeared. They lay still for a moment longer before Sollux finally got to his feet, "They're gone. Fuck, that was close."

"Close? Far too fucking close! Bluh! I think I got some fucking green-blood's fucking intestine in my mouth or some shit! Gog, I think I'm gonna be sick!"

"Oh, quit being melodramatic, KK."

"Says the fuckass covered in blood and god knows what!"

Tavros was in no mood to intervene and let the two sling insults while he himself patted at his Horsaroni's muzzle lightly as he watched the ridgeline. He hadn't been spotted…

But why did he still feel so damn uneasy?


	4. Ambushed

Ragged pants came between bared fangs, vision swimming in and out of focus as he stared down at his cut and bleeding hands that were helping to hold his tired weight off the ground.

He choked briefly before dissolving into a fit of coughing, his frame shuddering from the force of it and blood splattered from his mouth onto the ground to join the steadily growing puddle of purple that was forming underneath him.

What was happening?

Swallowing down the tang of blood from his tongue, Gamzee became gradually aware of another presence and gathered together what little energy he had left to lift his head and focus on the dark shape before him. He couldn't see anything other than the large outline of the figure but he could certainly see something being lifted into the air. In a sudden rush of motion, the weapon came sailing down at him and his eyes widened in horror.

"Gamzee!"

The highblood's eyes flew open as a sharp gasp sounded from his lips and he sat up to look around quickly, heart hammering in his chest. His nerves were frazzled enough to the point that he was starting to reach for a weapon, any weapon, just to calm himself down. He eventually realized it had only been a dream and wilted against the edge of his recuperacoon, lifting a hand to run his fingers through his sopor slime soaked hair. Now that his heart wasn't in an immediate threat of exploding, he saw that he was trembling and promptly made a face.

How un-motherfucking cool…

"Gamzee?"

Oh, fuck, he'd almost forgotten about Feferi!

Scrambling out of his recuperacoon, Gamzee reached the door and yanked it open to find himself staring at the seadweller who was in the middle of getting ready to knock. There was a moment of silence before the girl's magenta gaze gave him a scrutinizing once-over and she wrinkled her nose, "You might want to clean that off…unless you planned on going out like that, of course."

"Uh…yeah. You guys go get your motherfuckin' eat on, I'll catch up." Watching her leave, he closed the door and headed off to go clean up from his previous night's troubled rest.

A lot of fucking good that slime did apparently.

He'd finally gotten himself cleaned up and was blowing a strand of his slightly damp hair from his face as he made his way into the dining hall. A few trolls were there as well but they paid no mind to Makara who ventured to Eridan and Feferi who were finishing up their own breakfast. Feferi was eating least ways; Eridan was more or less prodding woefully at his food.

"Eridan, you need to eat if you want your headache to go away." Feferi scolded gently before looking up as Gamzee approached and smiled, "Good morning to you too, sleeping beauty. Care for some breakfast?"

Gamzee made a slight face at the sight of food and felt his stomach churn promptly in response, "Nah. I ain't so motherfuckin' hungry right now, sis. I'll hold up till later."

She gave a simple shrug before downing the remainder of her juice and stood, "Well, then let's go! I caught Feferi on her way here and she said she'd get Equius and meet us up at the caves."

After some slight badgering, Eridan complied with getting up and trailed along sulkily behind them as the two made their way out of the Court of Miracles and off towards the caves which housed a good number of dragons that were part of Redglare's collection.

Upon approaching, Feferi waved in greeting as the sight of Equius and Terezi came into view. The girl was pestering Equius about something from the looks of it and the lethal grin on her face was indication enough she was succeeding in pushing his buttons. She was quite good at those little mind games, just like her mother.

"About time you showed up!"

"We had some issues this morning." Feferi mused in a simple apology, glancing towards Eridan and Gamzee.

"Well, come on! Dragons don't wait for anyone, you know!"

The group filed their way into the entrance of the large formation, Terezi giving Eridan a sharp smack against his back with her stick when he failed to shake a leg and slung a few choice words at the blind troll but broke into a trot to catch up to the others. It was better than risking getting hit again.

It was actually relatively quiet in the caves…

_Relatively _being the key word.

The sound of wings buffeting against the air and the roars and hisses that echoed off the stone structure varied in pitch and volume which, as Terezi pointed out, was a clear indication of the age of the dragon. The older and bigger they were, the louder and longer the roar could be.

The tunnel led into a large open area inside the cave system that was complete with a massive lake in the middle. Sprawled all along the rocks, bathing in the stream of light coming from the hole in the top of the structure, were dragons. A few curious ones paused to observe the trolls but, for the most part, the beasts didn't budge. They were quite accustomed to seeing the small group of trolls by now since they'd been going to visit with Terezi at a young age but, as of late, their visits weren't as frequent.

One dragon uncurled itself from the rock and flitted down to the ground, white wings folding back up against its body before it lumbered its way closer. The long neck stretched out to sniff at the group and its red eyes shifted over them for a moment. Terezi grinned and reached out a hand to pat at its snout, "Hey there, remember these guys?"

"_That's_ your lusus?" Feferi demanded in awe, reaching out a hand to gently pat the snowy white maw of the dragon who remained still for a moment before turning to fly back up to her warm rock she'd left to greet the young trolls.

Terezi nodded, "Sure is. Isn't she great?"

"She was just a little hatchling when I last saw her though!"

"Well, if you came to visit us landdwellers more you could've seen her!"

Gamzee's attention turned towards a few smaller hatchlings rolling about together on the floor nearby and he wandered closer to them. They didn't seem to take note of him for a moment until he knelt down next to them and they promptly stopped their playing to swivel their tiny heads at him with curious screeches.

Reaching out a finger, Gamzee gently prodded one who immediately latched onto the offending limb, attempting to knaw on it. Unfortunately for the little dragon, its jaws weren't quite big enough yet to do any damage more than small scratches. Blinking as he felt a shift in weight on his head, the troll pursed his lips for a moment before peering up to try to see what was on him but whatever it was, it was secured to his horns.

"Uhm…highblood, I do believe one has taken a fondness in using your horns as a perch of sorts." Equius mused in observation. Standing, Gamzee made his way to a pool of water to lean over. True to the blue-blood's words, curled on one of his horns was a small dragon, lounging lazily in his mop of dark hair.

"It seems you make a good nest, Gamzee. Maybe if you did something with your hair once in a while you wouldn't have this problem." Terezi drawled with a snicker, Feferi covering her mouth with a hand to keep from giggling too loudly. "Come here and I'll help get it off."

"Oh, no way, sis. This dragon's all up and motherfuckin' got his rest on, best not to disturb him." He assured with a grin. Instead, he wandered back over to the group who ventured further into the cave and sat down amongst some rocks to chat with each other.

It really had been a while since they'd all done something like this and, surprisingly, Gamzee felt himself starting to relax for once. Though, while he wasn't as engaged as Feferi and Terezi were in the conversation, he did answer when prompted.

Leaning back against the rock, Gamzee tilted his neck some to the other side to try to distribute some of the weight on his head caused by the scaly creature elsewhere.

Dismisisng his thoughts from the dragon on his head, Gamzee's attention tuned back in to the group chattering away nearby. It seemed Eridan had mostly recovered from his headache that morning and even Equius was relaxing…somewhat. He still freaked out whenever anyone other than Terezi decided to speak to him.

"And so I told her-"

"Told who?" Eridan inquired, having been talking with Equius about something and seemed to have just tuned in on Feferi's current conversation with Terezi as well.

"Vriska."

The seadweller turned several shades of purple ranging from a pale lilac to a dark purple. "Oh…what about her?" He drawled bitterly, a scathing tone leaking into his voice.

Terezi grinned at the sight, "You're still looking for her, huh?"

"You know damn glubbin' well I am! When did you talk to her last?"

"Calm down, seadweller. It was a few months ago, I haven't seen her since. Anyways, as I was saying before fish-breath here interrupted, I-"

"Pardon me."

Around the cavern, the agitated screeches and hisses of dragons sounded at the foreign voice and a few took flight right out of the cave while others glowered silently from their perches. The dragon on Gamzee's head stirred and uncurled itself to flit off onto a rocky ledge nearby with a shriek.

Thankful for the lessened weight, the subjugglator twisted around to see who had spoken. Judging from the uniform of dark, nearly black gray, magenta, and yellow, it was one of the Empresses' men.

Feferi stood up at once to address the messenger, "Yes, what is it?"

The seadweller's gaze glanced over towards Gamzee for a moment and that was indication enough of what was needed before it was even said.

"A few scouts ambushed some lowbloods…or so they thought. It turned out the ambush they'd staged was, in fact, and ambush for them. A few managed to escape and seek help. Makara, your father requests that you ride out at once to help put a stop to it."

Sighing, Gamzee got to his feet and brushed dust from his pants, "Tell him I'm leaving right away then."

"I'm comin' too."

It wasn't all that surprising to hear Eridan pipe up but Gamzee frowned nonetheless, "You sure about that, motherfucker? You could barely walk this morning."

"No, I'm fuckin' goin'. Killin' a few lowbloods is exactly what I need to get rid of this glubbin' headache."

As long as he didn't fall off his Horsaroni, Gamzee figured he'd be all right.

The messenger nodded and gave a brief bow, turning to part from the caves before the dragons could get anymore agitated than they already were. Eridan got to his feet as well and Gamzee opened his mouth to speak until he noted the look on Feferi's face and frowned, "What?"

"Oh! Nothing! I…just don't like seeing you two going out to fight all the time…"

Eridan raised a brow and smirked as he prodded the princess with a foot, "What are you glubbin' about? I've seen you go out to kill trolls before!"

The seadwelller was quick to flush at his teasing and scowled, batting away the limb, "It's different! I only go out when necessary and I have plenty of guards with me as well. But you two _always _go out to fight, no matter what. I'm just worried one day you'll slip up and…well…you know."

The two older trolls seemed to realize she was dead serious about it and a brief glance was exchanged between them before Gamzee sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with a frown. Walking over, he leaned over to get her attention and grabbed onto her cheeks, pulling them gently which earned a squeal of protest from her but she couldn't squirm much without causing more of a sting to the action.

"You worry to motherfuckin' much, sis. Do you know who you're glubbin' to? I am Gamzee motherfuckin' Makara and that is Eridan fucking Ampora. Two of the most stubborn as hell trolls to walk the face of Alternia; it'll be motherfuckin' hard for a motherfucker to up and kill us."

Feferi stared quietly up at him before she started to giggle, rubbing at her cheeks as Gamzee released them, "Two of the most _ridiculous_ trolls to walk the face of Alternia, you mean." She drawled which only made Gamzee grin, "There ya motherfuckin' go."

"Well, whatever. Just be careful, okay?"

The two nodded their consent before Terezi spoke up with a toothy grin, "Yeah. Hurry back too. You guys promised to spend the day with us and I won't accept any half-assery on your part just because you gotta go kill some rebels."

Gamzee rolled his eyes in response as he grabbed onto Eridan's arm to spin him away for the exit of the caves. As they walked, Eridan wrinkled his nose in thought, an action that Gamzee had known from a young age that it meant he was thinking about something troubling.

"So…it was an ambush, huh?"

"Motherfuckin' seems that way."

There was a brief pause of silence before Eridan sent a small pebble skittering off down the hallway with a quick kick of his foot, "They're gettin' brave."

* * *

And brave they were.

After Eridan and Gamzee had left the ridgeline, the trio worked as quickly as they could to scour the dead for any sign of life. Sollux's powers came in handy in checking the air for any stirring of breath or limb and they'd gathered together the wounded.

Out of the two hundred or so trolls that had been sent to fight, they collected a whopping grand total of fifteen and a half to bring back to camp who would live to fight another day.

The half count being one troll who'd made it to camp but ended up dying from his wounds shortly after.

"This cannot go unpunished." The Sufferer drawled from his position at the head of the large table, fingers steepled together in thought as his red eyes focused on the map of Alternia spread out before him.

So much indigo compared to red on that map…

A low snarl sounded from Ψiioniic who slammed a fist onto the table, bi-colored eyes sparking angrily as he stood up, "Then please, elaborate to me how the fuck we're going to make them pay. Because clearly whatever we're throwing at them is being smashed to pieces."

The Disciple paused in her writing to look up from the piece of paper and pursed her lips softly, tapping the tip of her quill against the wood, "Well…" She began softly, "What do you think, Summoner? According to my notes, you haven't said anything this entire meeting."

Eyes turned to the troll at the end of the table and he looked a bit puzzled himself at being called out in such a manner. But, clearly both he and the Disciple knew that he'd been making a plan in his silence.

Smiling, the troll sat up in his seat to lean forwards, resting his elbows on the table, "Well, here's what we should do…"

* * *

"Yes, it all seems completely logical when put into that context…" Kanaya mused softly as she adjusted her posture on her Horsaroni, looking up briefly to study the area around them, "The prey becomes the hunters, yes?"

A delighted gasp sounded at once from Nepeta, "Oh! I quite like the sound of that!"

"You would, NE…" Sollux drawled in response with a roll of his eyes.

Tavros simply smiled. They were quite a dysfunctional group of friends but they were friends nonetheless. "Yeah, so, uh…we should just keep going and some scouts will find us soon enough… Then once the trap is sprung, let a few escape."

A bright grin spread its way across Sollux's face and he chuckled, "And they'll go crawling back to their masters and drag more highbloods into the killing spree."

Sollux seemed confident enough and Tavros couldn't help but frown at that, "Y-yeah…but, I just hope we have enough for the second wave when the highbloods come." It was a well-known fact that the Grand Highblood was completely unpredictable and who knew how he would react exactly to the reports of an ambush. He could end up sending a couple trolls, none at all, or, at the worst, the whole damn army. He shuddered softly at the thought of having to face down a mass of that many highbloods.

The sound of shouts caught his attention and the group looked behind them to see about a dozen or so riders approaching them with weapons drawn and Kanaya was the first to react, retrieving a small tube of lipstick from the pocket of her pants. "And so, it begins, my friends." She mused, uncapping the tube with a soft smirk.

* * *

"That's not so bad…" Eridan observed quietly as the group of a couple hundred soldiers watched the battle commencing in the valley below. He could clearly make out the darker shades of armor and cloth from their side while there seemed a few more lowbloods amongst the remaining highbloods.

"Mhmm, let's end this quickly." Gamzee replied, shifting on his Horsaroni to reach an arm around his middle and grab the handle of the red and yellow clubs he took to battle with him. They looked harmless enough and on his first battle, a few did actually laugh at the sight of them. Clearly they'd forgotten who was wielding them but Gamzee made sure to give them a smart reminder that consisted of spilling their brightly colored brains onto the ground.

As a subjugglator, Gamzee made it a point to make his kills as messy as possible.

Eridan lifted his hand and with a simple snap and point of his fingers, the group of highbloods surged down the hill into the valley with a murderous cry. Eridan and Gamzee hung back for a moment as they watched the group surge onto the preexistent battle.

After a brief pause of silence, Gamzee let a smirk slide its way across his lips and his violet eyes turned to Eridan, "So…best two out of three?"

"What? Me toppin' your kill count last time wasn't enough for you? Had to come back for more?"

"Well, if you don't hurry up you're going to be behind already." Gamzee quickly stirred his Horsaroni into a gallop down the hill, leaving Eridan to stare blankly after him for a moment before he was quick to follow suit with a curse after the clown.

The first troll he came upon, Gamzee barreled right down over with his Horsaroni, twisting in his saddle to crush the head of another in on itself with a swing of his club. The feeling of the warm liquid splashing against his hand sent a rush of adrenaline through him, scaring him and thrilling him all at once. Of course, that was what he lived for in battle; the fact you were juggling your own life in your own abilities was all that separated you from living through this one to die another day or this one being your last.

He soon became so absorbed in bashing all he could that he wasn't even aware of the fact that something had lodged itself into the throat of his Horsaroni until it was too late. Snapping from the whirlwind of voices laughing and screaming in his head and the thrill of the kill, he was suddenly more concerned about the ground suddenly coming faster at him as his mount toppled onto the ground, grunting on impact, a throb going through his arm.

That was going to hurt tomorrow.

But even worse was the fact his leg had been successfully pinned underneath the body of his Horsaroni. Cursing, Makara twisted and squirmed to get the heavy weight off his pinned leg but it didn't seem to be doing any good.

"Well, well, what have we here? Gamzee Makara."

Blinking at his name, Gamzee tilted his head back some to see who was speaking and promptly frowned at the sight of a lowblood looming above him, face splattered in mustard colored blood that was probably his own, judging from the cut across his cheek.

Gamzee bared his fangs in response and tried to grab the troll's leg but he casually stepped a side with a small click of his tongue, "Now, now, how about some manners, highblood? Or, I could simply take your head as an apology for such rude behavior." He hissed, lifting his sword and Gamzee preparing to try to twist out of the way as it came down. However, it never happened. A sharp crack of something hot shooting through the air sounded and the trolls' head exploded in a pulpy, mushy mess of yellow; arms slowly falling to his sides before the entire body itself slumped to the ground.

"Now, I believe that's forty to, oh…tell me how many you've killed by now? Not a lot considerin' you're stuck underneath your own mount." Eridan jeered on approach as he strode through the chaos to kneel down next to Gamzee.

"It'll be one seadweller more if you don't help get this motherfucker off me."

Eridan flashed a toothy grin before digging his fingers underneath the Horsaroni and, with a few grunts and curses, managed to slide it off enough with the help of Gamzee so he could get his leg free.

"Try not to fall under any more of those." Eridan stated before disappearing off with the soft whirr of Ahab's Crosshair's as it was prepared to fire. Gamzee made a face before spitting out some of the mustard-colored blood that had gotten into his mouth from Eridan's kill.

A shape out of the corner of his vistion alerted him to someone coming up on his back and he bent down to pick up his clubs, turning around to slam one into the midsection of the troll coming at him. With a choked noise on impact, Gamzee grinned and removed the club to swing down the other one in his hand against his head, sending a mess of green blood spilling across his boots.

"_Yes, Gamzee, good."_

"_Kill the lowbloods."_

"_Kill them."_

His actions were swift and deadly to those who managed to get in the way of his swings and it wasn't long before he was lost again in rush of the battle with nothing to stop him.

"Ahhhh!"

Hearing the cry, Gamzee turned and leaned out of the way, lifting a club to block the attack as the sharp point of a lance grazed past his cheek, drawing a thin line of purple.

Letting out a low snarl, the subjugglator moved to grab the side of the lance and quickly pulled it to him, drawing the troll on the other end closer and dropped a club so he could grab the bastard's thin neck.

He heard the troll give a startled gasp but it was cut off as Gamzee began to squeeze his fingers around the tan throat.

It was only then that he managed to actually take in the appearance of the troll through his bloodthirsty haze.

Panting softly from exertion, Gamzee studied the troll over. The horns weren't anything really; plenty of trolls had similar horns but nothing that should've stuck out to the sides so much. However, it was the fluffy mohawk that got him to stop and think for a moment. Slowly, his gaze turned to look at his face, at the wide, brown eyes that were silently pleading at him to let go.

Staring for a moment, the threatening snarl on his face slowly slid away and his fingers uncurled themselves from around the troll's neck. It was then he realized he'd actually picked him up off the ground as the male dropped to the ground with a wheezing gasp.

"-zee!"

Looking up in a stunned, confused manner, he sought out the source of the voice through the mass of trolls fighting.

"Gamzee!"

It didn't take him long to see Eridan on top of his Horsaroni, circling about to try to keep the beast from rearing. Seeing that he'd gotten his attention, Eridan frowned, "Gam, we have to go, now! There's too many of them!"

What?

Looking around, Gamzee finally realized that few of their troops remained and those that were left were getting swarmed by the larger amount of lowbloods. How had that happened? _When _did it happen?

Quickly remembering the troll who'd attacked him, Gamzee looked behind him to see that he was gone.

"Gam, now!"

Grabbing his club from the ground, Gamzee broke into a run for Eridan, leaping over a mound of dead to grab the outstretched hand that pulled him up onto the back of the Horsaroni.

"Go!" He shouted once he was seated and Eridan dug his heels into the sides of the Horsaroni who was more than happy to comply with the command and broke into a gallop out of the mess of a battle. The sounds of the dying and clashing of metal faded into silence as they rode on.

After a few moments, Eridan licked some of the blood that was running from a cut above his eyes away from his lips and sighed, "You're father's not goin' to be happy…"


	5. The Dead Stay Dead

A dragon-glass vase shattered against the wall a few inches away from Gamzee's head, causing the troll to close his eyes, lifting an arm against the spray of bits and pieces of the black shards that remained from the impact.

"Say _WHAT?"_

Next to him, Eridan cringed at the sudden fluctuation of the Grand Highblood's voice, and opened his mouth to speak, "We were beaten, Highblood."

The dark mass of his father stationed before the burning pit of his fireplace turned to focus a sharp glare onto the two as the seadweller summarized their failed attack in those few short words that had triggered such a quick response from the troll. Gathering himself up to his full height, Highblood turned and moved across the room towards the two younger trolls with a snarl across his face.

"So, tell me this… How, in the mother_fuck_ were you beaten by a few motherfuckin' _LOWBLOODS?_"

Eridan swallowed thickly and went to respond.

"It was an organized ambush."

Both sets of eyes turned onto Gamzee who had spoken up instead and Eridan's gaze shifted nervously between father and son as the two commenced to stare each other down unblinkingly.

"It was a smaller group to create a distraction while more waited for us to come in the fight."

Highblood's eyes narrowed and for a fearful moment, Eridan thought the troll was going to crush his own son's skull against the wall. Thankfully, the notion didn't come true as he turned on his heel to begin pacing the room.

"Get out."

At the curt command, the two trolls gave bows of dismissal before filing out of the door and into the hallway. Gamzee blinked as he noted a few trolls standing in the hall, staring blankly at them for a moment, having been stopped at the sudden bout of shouting earlier. They were all quick to move once they realized Gamzee and Eridan had spotted them and carried on with their business.

Shifting his gaze over them with a stern look to make sure they were going to carry about their merry way for a moment, the young subjugglator soon made his way down the hall with Eridan falling into step behind him.

Neither trolls really cared that they were splattered in different shades of blood for various reasons; Eridan's being the fact that they'd had to face down the Grand Highblood with bad news and Gamzee for, well, more troubling reasons.

Gingerly plucking up the hem of his cape into his fingers, Eridan's ears wilted a bit as he eyed the blood on it with disfavor. "Lowbloods…they could have at least a better shade of blood that _doesn't _clash with _this_ shade of purple." But, then again, they wouldn't be lowbloods if that were the case.

Letting his cape flutter out of his grasp, the seadweller shifted his gaze onto Gamzee who was still eerily silent. Pursing his lips together for a moment, brows furrowed over the rims of his glasses, Eridan spoke, "What is it, Gam? You look like you've seen a glubbin' ghost. Was it the voices again?"

Oh, he wished it had merely been the voices.

"No…" He murmured after a moment, lifting his gaze away from the ground that passed underneath his boots and over to the seadweller, "It may have just been a ghost."

That clearly had caught him off guard, judging from the startled look he gave him, "A…ghost. Gam, you know I was only joking. There's no way it could've been a _ghost_ of all things, that's just ridiculous."

Ignoring him, Gamzee gave a brief glance around the area to make sure no one was within hearing range of them and lowered his voice. "You remember that guy from when we were little motherfuckers?"

A look of thought crossed Eridan's face for a moment and it was clear when he'd recalled the brown-blood who'd tagged along with them at times when he'd been on land to visit the Court of Miracles. His father for business but he usually hung around with Gamzee while their fathers talked war, "Yeah, what about him?"

"He was there, on the battlefield. I-"

"Gam, he's _dead_, remember? Besides, he'd be about our age now. How would you even recognize him?"

"No, I-"

"It was probably just another glubbin' troll from his side of the hemospectrum. Y'know, similar traits and all that."

Something inside him snapped as he continued talking and Gamzee grabbed onto the front of his shirt, swinging him around to slam him into the wall next to him.

"I _know _what I motherfuckin' saw!" A ragged growl rippled from his throat his he loomed over the stunned troll, fingers curling into his shirt. For a moment, it was silent except for the soft panting of Gamzee who slowly realized what he'd done and cringed a bit, violet eyes staring into Eridan's own shade of purple. The seadweller moved, lifting his hands to rest them on Gamzee's tensed ones holding him a few inches off the wall and the subjugglator slowly uncurled his fingers from the fabric, allowing Eridan back down to his feet.

"I know what I saw…" He repeated again, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants to keep from doing anything else and looked back to the floor, "You weren't around enough to all up and remember shit about the motherfucker, but I do. You can't forget stuff about that little motherfucker once you remembered them."

Eridan observed the troll briefly before sighing, straightening out his shirt, "Well…if you say so, Gam. I'm not gonna say you didn't 'cause I wasn't there to see it, but it seems highly unlikely to me 's all."

"Oh, you're back!"

Blinking at the voice, Gamzee followed Eridan's gaze over his shoulder to see Feferi walking up the hall towards them with a bright grin, though it slowly slid away on approach as she noted the expressions on their faces. Looking between the two, the grip on the books in her arms adjusted slightly to tuck a strand of dark hair behind a fin, "What happened?"

When Gamzee didn't speak up right away, Eridan stepped in, "We lost a battle's all, Fef. The lowbloods are smarter than we thought apparently."

Feferi scoffed softly at that and shook her head, "Well, of course they are! They're trolls, aren't they? They're not cuttlefish!" She stopped briefly before giggling softly, "They're not as cute as cuttlefish though."

"Ugh, now isn't a time to talk about your glubbin' pets, Fef." Eridan drawled, lips curling in disgust at the thought of the odd little creatures but the expression was wiped away as Fef grabbed onto his fin and gave a sharp tug.

"Don't make fun of my pets!"

The two dissolved into a small argument as to the stupidity of said cuttlefish until Gamzee intervened, "Hey, Fef, I got a motherfuckin' question for you."

The girl stopped arguing with Eridan for a moment, releasing his ear-fin to turn her attention onto the male, "Well, sure thing, Gamzee. What is it?"

"Can people come back from the dead?"

A puzzled look crossed the girl's face and she exchanged a glance with Eridan as to what he was talking about but the older troll only shook his head. "Well…I'm not entirely sure, Gamzee. I'm not exactly the best person to ask about that…"

"Well, yeah, but you read all the motherfuckin' time, sis. You're the smartest troll I know. Surely you gotta know something, right?"

She flushed a nice shade of magenta at the compliment and she pursed her lips, "W-well…I do read a lot, but there aren't many books about that sort of thing. I can look into it if you want, but, why do you want to know about it?"

For a fleeting second, Gamzee considered telling her what had happened but thought better of it, "Just curious, sis." He replied with a small smile, "I heard some people all up and getting their chat on about it and I wanted to see what the motherfuckin' buzz was." He shot Eridan a brief glance and it seemed the seadweller was going to be just as quiet about this Tavros business as much as Gamzee planned on being.

"Oh, uhm, that's interesting. I wonder why they would be talking like that for." Feferi mused before smiling again with a shrug, "Oh well. It's nice to see you two got back all right. You should go clean yourselves up." Turning, she headed back down the hall with her books.

Watching her go, Eridan sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck, "Yeah, she's right. We need to clean up. I'll see ya later, Gam, 'kay?" Gamzee gave a small nod before watching Eridan take his leave.

Which gave Gamzee a time to think over his own judgement.

Eridan spoke the truth; they'd both seen Tavros hauled away out of that chamber all those sweeps ago and it was a well-known fact that no one left the Court of Miracles alive. But...Gamzee would never forget his best friend, never. Not in a million years. At least…he didn't think he would.

Heading to his room, Gamzee stepped inside and shut the door behind him with a swift kick of his foot, making a beeline for that little chest on his desk. Pulling it to him, he opened it up to fish out the drawing hidden within.

Opening it up, he took a seat in the chair next to him and spread it out on the table. His eyes roamed over the drawing for a moment before settling on the figure of what was supposed to be Tavros. Violet eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he studied the picture, trying to will the image of the boy he'd caught on the battlefield earlier that day into his head and somehow into the form of the young troll he'd played with in the castle.

And he was mildly distressed to find he couldn't do it in a clear image. Only the foggiest memories of the troll's physical appearance came to mind; short, that fluffy mohawk, and he was pretty scrawny. The troll on the battlefield had had the hair and horns but he wasn't as small as he'd remembered but that's what happened when one grew up; it didn't help that Gamzee was pretty tall himself either. But, there was one thing he remembered clearly and that was his eyes. Tavros had soft brown eyes that were always so eager with everything going on in the world and held an understanding in them. He thought back to the troll's eyes from earlier; they were the same brown but filled with fear, pleading, all things as expected from someone that was about to die.

But there was also an uncharastic look of worry for one on the wrong end of the subjugglator's wrath.

Or maybe he was just going crazy and putting images of dead friends onto another's face.

A soft knock sounded at the door and Gamzee was startled from his thoughts, quickly folding up the paper to stuff into the pocket of his pants and he was on his feet in a second as the door opened.

"Hey, Gamzee, your old man wants you." Terezi called into the room with a toothy grin, "You're in trouble now, I bet."

Relaxing some as he realized who it was, Gamzee strode briskly towards the door and closed it behind him as he exited with a frown. "I wouldn't doubt it, he's got his think pan all up in a motherfuckin' tizzy over this lowblood business."

"And you don't?"

He was a bit surprised with the accusation and shot Terezi a brief look.

"Don't look at me like that, Makara. Don't try to hide it from me either. You forget that I can smell the glorious scent of those trying to hide secrets from others. Nothing passes under my lawful nose without a swift calculation." When silence greeted her, she grinned brightly and chuckled, "But you have another reason for this, yes? Well, you better get going before your Dad comes to get you himself."

Figuring it was better to leave before Terezi started getting too invasive with her questions and broke into a jog. It was best not to keep his father waiting, what with how testy he was at the moment already.

It didn't take long to locate him since he hadn't even left his room. Upon entering, he didn't even have time to announce himself as the troll spoke up instead.

"About time."

Gamzee let his mouth shut for a moment before figuring it was safe to speak, "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes." The Highblood agreed, scrawling down something else onto the piece of paper he had before him on his desk before he stood up to toss the quill casually down and picked up the paper. Turning towards his son, Highblood gave him a brief glance as he rolled up the paper neatly and moved across the room to the fireplace. A hand picked up a stick of purple wax, placing it near the flames and soon retracted his arm when the wax was hot enough to drip onto the flap of the roll. Once a sufficient amount was in place, he grabbed a seal with their symbol on it and stamped it into place.

"Here," He stated, holding out the roll of paper for Gamzee to take to which the troll did so in mild curiosity, examining the paper in silence before looking expectantly back to his father.

"Your words have troubled me, Gamzee. If these lowbloods are going to start resorting to cowardly tricks to turn the tide of this war then they will get a fight they are going to regret. Those are the terms the Empress and I have thought over for these traitors if they wish to keep their end of the hemospectrum intact. I want you to take it to them. I don't trust messengers and perhaps it will give you a chance to redeem yourself from your failure today if you do it correctly. "

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now get going."

Turning, Gamzee slipped out of the room to examine the paper in his hand briefly as he headed down the hall. Terms of surrender, huh? Trying to broker a peace seemed to be rather uncharacteristic of his father.

But, for all he knew, it could've been the Empress who'd made the plans.

* * *

**A/N: Ok, so, I just wanted to say thanks for the reviews I've gotten so far. c: I'm glad you all like it. **


	6. Terms and Agreements

"What?" Eridan declared, breaking into a jog to catch up to Gamzee who'd continued walking even when the seadweller had stopped to try to digest what exactly he'd just been told. "Lemme get this straight. Your Dad wants you to go _to _the lowbloods and deliver them peace terms? All right, for one, that's just fuckin' messed up; and two, they could _kill _you, Gam! Are you glubbin' insane?"

Raising a brow at the male's melodramatic reaction towards all of this, Gamzee slid his gaze onto Eridan and frowned some, "Are you motherfuckin' flipping your shit or what, brother? You're overreactin'."

"_Me_?" Eridan repeated, eyebrows nearly disappearing into his hairline, "No, no, a course I'm overeactin'…because this fuckin' _juggalo bulgemuncher_ thinks walking into and out of lowblood controlled territory is goin' to be a fuckin' walk down the beach!"

"Shhh, keep your motherfuckin' voice down! Do you want Fef to hear you goin' all up and throwin' a tantrum like this?"

Eridan flashed his fangs with a scowl, "You're just sayin' that because you know she'd flip her shit even more than I am."

"I doubt that."

While Feferi could indeed royally flip her shit, Eridan took the grubcake every time.

Eridan heaved a sigh, clearly done with arguing his point against the thickheaded subjugglator and frowned, "Fine. But if you get into trouble don't come cryin' to me!"

"But what if I do wind up and get myself into a motherfuckin' clusterfuck? Ain't a bro gonna be there to keep my motherfuckin' goods in check?"

"If your crazy as fuck juggalo speakin' mannerisms are referrin' to me havin' your back, then, I guess I do. Just _try _to not have a reason to call in the cod damn cavalry." A small smile worked its way across Eridan's lips and the seadweller raised a brow, "Even if the thought of me swoopin' in to save your ass makes you do a fuckin' backflip off the cliff of temptation."

A cheeky grin of his own crossed the indigo-blood's lips and he batted his eyes, "Oh, Ampora, take me now." The two laughed for a moment before their attention turned to the outside world as they exited the passageway to the stables where the Horsaroni's were kept.

After ordering a lowblood to saddle one of the creatures, Gamzee looked over to Eridan with a frown, "Keep sis safe for me till I get back, 'kay?" He didn't like the thought of not being on hand should anything wrong happen with Feferi, even if Eridan was the one to keep an eye over her most of the time. Gamzee did take after his father with his fierce loyalty to their rulers, at least, with Feferi. The girl wasn't like her mother at all and, frankly, Gamzee didn't like the smug way the Empress always approached things.

Taking the reins of the Horsaroni from the boy, Gamzee climbed up onto its back, patting the front of his vest briefly to make sure he still had the paper tucked away there before looking to Eridan, "Catch you later motherfucker."

With a brief nod from Eridan, Gamzee turned his mount for the giant gates that wrapped around the Court of Miracles and rode out.

It wasn't a secret as to where the location of the lowbloods was, just as how it wasn't a secret where the highbloods were usually located. Neither side had the man power to do a full frontal assault on the other so the fighting was done by smaller groups in different areas. The lowbloods were located in the heart of the wilderness around Alternia for multiple reasons, one being that it took longer to get there and anyone who approached could be seen for miles before getting close; another being that the Summoner could easily commune with the creatures that inhabited the lands around them to tell them of highblood movement or any other potential threats.

So it wasn't at all a surprise to see that every troll within the camp stopped what they were doing to calmly, and suspiciously, watch the son of the Grand Highblood approaching down the hill.

A frown spread over Gamzee's lips as he watched the trolls. A male hammering a sword over an anvil paused to glower down the purple-blood as he rode past and a few younger trolls watched in a curiosity until another troll ushered them away elsewhere quickly. And yet Gamzee still didn't know whether he liked the thought of being feared to such a degree or not.

His gaze turned away from the trolls to focus instead on the path he was going and it seemed to form itself as the lowbloods moved out of his way. It wasn't a hard guess as to where he was aiming to go.

He didn't expect to be attacked half-way there however.

A sudden blast of energy hit him from the side and sent him sprawling out of the saddle and onto the ground with a grunt of pained shock, his Horsaroni letting out a screech as well and trotted away a few feet out of the middle of the sudden assault.

"You bathtard!"

Once the ringing in his ears stopped, Gamzee was aware of another troll looming over him. Blinking as his vest was grabbed and yanked forwards, Gamzee found himself staring into a pair of red and blue eyes that crackled with energy and a slow grin worked its way across his lips, "I thought I recognized that motherfuckin' lisp, my brother."

A low snarl slipped from Sollux's clenched fangs and he gave the clown a firm shake, "Tell me what the fuck you think you're doing here, asthwipe. I thuggest you anthwer fatht and correctly before a rip you apart limb from limb."

"Oh, so this how you lowbloods all up and get your mirthful greetings on, huh?" He drawled, grabbing hold of Sollux's wrists, bending his legs underneath him to stand up to his full height which was about a foot over Sollux's, "Then allow me to get my own motherfuckin' pleasantries on."

His head slammed down to crack against Sollux's and the mustard-blood let out a pained yelp, releasing Gamzee's vest in favor of cradling his head, staggering backwards for a moment. "I'm going to fucking _kill _you; you have no idea, Makara!" He hissed, gaze lifting with a blood-thirsty look.

Gamzee bared his own fangs in response, "Then come at me motherfucker and let's see what you piss-bloods are motherfuckin' made of."

The fight-to-be was cut short as both males were suddenly plucked from the ground and sent flailing for balance in the air.

"There is no reason for this unnecessary fighting at this time." A calm voice sounded below them and Gamzee twisted around in mid-air to spy a troll standing below, arms folded behind her back.

"AA, put me down thith inthtant! Thith bastard thinkth he can beat me and I gotta teach him a lesthon!"

"Sollux, there is no reason for that. He is not here for you. Now, if I put you down, will you both behave?"

Neither said anything and Aradia simply took it for a yes, slowly allowing the two to float back down to the ground though cut her powers short a few inches off to send them both tumbling the rest of the way; Sollux with a curse and Gamzee with a short honk of surprise.

As they worked on getting back to their feet, Aradia calmly strode over to observe the young subjugglator unblinkingly and Gamzee couldn't help but be a bit unnerved by it; a small grimace crossing his face as he stared back in response. After a few moments of this nonsense, he finally spoke with a scowl, "What?"

A small smile crossed the girl's lips and she offered her hand, "My name is Aradia."

Gamzee looked uncertainly towards the offered limb as if it would explode any moment and back to the girl who continued to smile and stare.

Did this motherfucker ever blink?

What did he even say to that? Most lowbloods never did such a thing with highbloods but this girl seemed a bit off anyways and if it made her stop staring at him like that, then so be it.

"Ah...how's it going, motherfucker?" He mused with clear uncertainty, a hand reaching out to take the girl's. She gave their linked hands a brief shake before releasing him to grab hold of his arm suddenly and herded him away, the highblood bristling at the sudden contact.

"Come, I'll take you to the Sufferer, that's who you're here for, right?"

"Y-yeah…"

Sollux himself was a bit thrown off by Aradia's behavior but fell into step after them begrudgingly with a few cursed mutters under his breath.

The remainder of the walk had little incident besides the disapproving looks that were flashed his way but what was to be expected from a highblood being amongst lowbloods?

He looked up as a large tent came into view with the banners of the other blood groups fluttering on the tops of the poles that held the tents up; the brown of the Taurus, yellow of the Gemini, green of the Leo, dark red of the Aries, jade of the Virgo. And fixed upon the tallest pole in the middle of the tent was the candy red color of the mutant blood.

Gamzee's lip curled in irritation at the sight. They were all right there for the killing but he was still young and would be easily killed if he tried to make an attack on even one of these trolls. One alone would be a challenge but all together, it would be suicide.

Stepping into the tent, he was greeted by the sight of the Sufferer and Summoner talking together while the Dolorosa was busy discussing something with her daughter on the other side of the room near a shelf of books.

The conversation between the two males stopped as Aradia led Gamzee over and the Sufferer quirked a brow, "Well, well, tell me, what has happened that you should honor us with your presence, Gamzee Makara?"

He chose to ignore the taunting tone in his words and reached into his vest to grab the piece of paper but noted that the Summoner instantly tensed at the sudden action and Gamzee shot him a sneer, "Don't jump. I ain't going to motherfuckin' pull a weapon on any of you." He produced the roll of paper and held it out for the Sufferer to take.

Watching as he rolled it open and scanned the lines over, he watched for a facial expression to give any hint of what his father had written. If there had been any facial expressions to see, of course, the Sufferer kept his emotions carefully hidden away.

After a moment, he rolled up the paper and raised a brow, "So, your father wants us to admit defeat, claim fealty to the Empress, give over our territory, and dissolve our army?"

Oh, so that's what his father had wanted. Even Gamzee had to admit those were steep demands but if he knew his father like he thought he did, they hadn't really wanted a peace. Killing was what he did best and, if anything, the terms were simply for his own amusement.

Gamzee shrugged simply in response and the Sufferer chuckled, "Sadly, he makes demands I cannot agree to. Perhaps I should make some of my own that you can send back to him? What do think?"

They both knew his father wasn't going to take well to that, let alone give a flying fuck what they wanted. "Do whatever makes ya'll up and motherfuckin' happy."

Before more could be said, the tent flap fluttered open and a boy scrambled inside to take up the spot next to Gamzee and he gave a quick bow in greeting before straightening back up.

"S-sorry, sir, but Disciple wanted me to send for the Sufferer for something. I-…" He trailed off upon actually taking a moment to look over at who was standing next to him and stilled into silence.

Gamzee's gaze had widened and stared silently at the troll from the battlefield. No one moved and even Aradia seemed to grow a bit nervous at the sudden tension.

Frowning, the Summoner got to his feet, exchanging a brief, stern look with his son who swallowed thickly and turned to make a dash for the exit. Blinking in surprise at the sudden escape, Gamzee took off after him out of the tent as the Summoner shouted for him to stop.

Gamzee's eyes locked onto the boy as he tore off through the camp, the two weaving and dodging trolls; Tavros trying to shake him while Gamzee tried to keep him in his sights. Luckily, he was faster and soon managed to gain on the boy, snagging him as he tried to take a sharp turn. The two went tumbling to the ground from the sudden stop and Gamzee grunted as he was sharply kneed in the gut but held tight onto the squirming lowblood.

He honestly didn't know what to do now that he'd caught him but it was clear that the other wanted to get away. "L-let _go_!" he demanded, flailing and kicking in his grip but was eventually subdued as Gamzee grabbed a horn to pin his head down while he sat on his legs, using his other hand to pin his hands onto the ground.

The two gasped for air, Gamzee glaring down at the male who quickly diverted his gaze elsewhere. Taking the moment to stare him down, Gamzee absorbed his image into his head. He was bigger than the Tavros he remembered but his eyes were still the same, but his hair wasn't as short as it had been either and it was fluffier. His long fingers ran over the smooth horn in his grip; his horns were longer and bigger than they had been as well.

Indigo eyes slid back down to meet brown and Gamzee swallowed thickly for a moment before opening his mouth, "Tavbro?" He ventured tentatively. The male didn't answer but his gaze flickered over his shoulder as something came down on the back of Gamzee's head and he was sent floating off into darkness.


	7. Reunion

The next time Gamzee regained consciousness was the time when he realized he had a splitting migraine.

It took a few moments for his vision to come back into focus, a grimace crossing his lips at the pain of the flame of the lamp nearby casting a halo into his vision the second he dared to open his eyes. Letting his lids shut for a moment to ward off the sudden throb that pulsed against his skul, his brows furrowed as he forced his eyes back open. Now that the initial pain was gone and slowly simmering away into a steady ache, the troll cleared his throat, tongue dry from a lack of anything to drink.

As he moved to sit up, it then came to his attention that his hands were bound against the pole stuck in the ground of the tent he'd been placed in. Blinking, Gamzee tilted his head back to get a better look at his lanky limbs that were bound around it and crossed at the wrists and lashed around the pole with a piece of rope a good number of times. Were they honestly that concerned he was going to escape?

After twisting his hands experimentally, he came to the conclusion that he was not getting free just yet with a low growl of irritation and let his frame slump back down against the uncomfortable pole behind his back. His attention slid away from his legs that were stretched out in front of him as the gentle rustle of the tent flap opening caught his attention and his eyes slowly turned to look up at the young troll standing in the room with him.

There was a shared moment of silence as indigo and red stared down each other before the mutant opened his mouth to speak. "Are you fucking retarded or what, asshat?"

That... Wasn't what he'd been expecting at all.

His confusion must've spread across his face judging from the way that the troll's lip curled in clear disgust moments after, "Don't give me that fucking look, highblood. You know what you did."

He'd done something? What had he done?

"My fucking gog, are all you highbloods this fucking far off the map or what?" Moving across the room, Karkat set down something- what, Gamzee couldn't see- before turning back to the male tied up nearby and stood over him with a scrutinizing glare. "In case the fucking hammer of knowledge hasn't cracked that thick ass skull of yours yet, you were chasing a gog damn lowblood through camp. And since I'm feeling _so_ fucking generous today, I'll give you another bit of information; you don't. Fucking. Do that."

Gamzee sat up a little bit straighter at that reminder and his gaze quickly turned to look around the room. No one else seemed to be there but this troll.

"Calm your tits, asshat, he isn't here. With good reason considering I'm pretty sure you were aiming to kill."

"I wasn't motherfucking trying to kill anyone!" He snarled, fangs bared irritably at the troll who had paused to stare back at him with a raised brow at the sudden outburst before a coy sneer replaced the look, "So, it fucking does talk, huh?"

Gamzee merely pursed his lips in response, watching warily as the male moved back to the table, doing something before he returned with a cup in his hands and knelt down to hold it out for the subjugglator. Gamzee took a look at it and instantly twisted around to duck his head into the crook of his arm as much as he could in clear defiance to down whatever vile liquid they were trying to poison him with.

Karkat let out an irked sigh of frustration at the sudden reaction to his offer and waited until he saw an indigo eye peered out from behind the pitiful excuse of a shield between the highblood and the cup before he shoved it towards him again, "Just fucking drink it. It's water, you dumb fuck."

Staring from Karkat to the cup and back again, Gamzee slowly let his body rest back to its original state which was much more comfortable but he still kept his lips sealed tight.

Almost to the point of bashing his head against something, Karkat sat back onto the ground since it seemed this was going to take a while. "Look," He commanded, tilting the cup towards himself and took a drink from it, letting out a dramatic sigh of contentment once he'd taken a sip, "See? Not foaming at the mouth in a poison-induced seizure." He held the cup back out to Gamzee who eyed him a moment longer in a manner in which he had little to no doubt he was waiting for him to fall over dead. When he didn't, the highblood reluctantly allowed his lips to part and Karkat leaned forward to tilt the rim of the cup against his lips, waiting for him to drain the contents before he pulled it away.

Getting to his feet, he returned the cup to the table next to the pitcher of water he'd brought to fill it up again to take it back to the highblood; taking his seat back on the ground again.

"You're the Sufferer's grub, aren't you?"

A bit thrown off at the question, Karkat remained quiet in thought. "Certainly didn't get my dashing good looks from that fuckass Sollux, now did I?"

Gamzee was going to take that as a yes. They slid off into silence as Gamzee took another drink, licking away a few drops of water from his lips. "Well, Sufferer's grub, mind telling a motherfucker who all up and had the brilliant idea of crackin' my think-pan like an overripe melon?"

Karkat's nose wrinkled lightly at the thought and he made a noise of digust, "Gog, you have some fucking weird ass lingo. And 'the Sufferer's grub' has a name; it's Karkat fucking Vantas."

When Gamzee shrugged in response, as much as he could anyways, Karkat continued. "As for who went and delivered a righteous blow to correct your crazy ass behavior, you'd have Miss Prim-and-fucking-proper Kanaya to thank for that raging headache."

"Kanaya?"

"Dolorosa's fucking grub."

"Oh." Gamzee knew who the Dolorosa was so he could only imagine what her grub was like.

Another moment of awkward silence.

This time, it was Karkat who broke the quiet.

"So," He began, setting down the empty cup to cross his legs together, "Mind explaining what fucking thought jumped up and bit you on the ass so suddenly as to go chasing down that bastard?"

It hadn't been one of his better ideas, Gamzee would have to admitt, now that he thought about it. But at the time, those repressed memories came rushing back and everything probably would've been fairly all right had he not suddenly ran off. It'd startled the highblood a bit too quickly for him to think over his own actions properly and, considering where it'd landed him, he kind of regretted it now.

"I-..." He began after a moment, "I just thought the motherfucker looked so...motherfuckin' familiar."

"Yeah. 'Cause I'm fucking sure a bulgemuncher like yourself goes around shooting the fucking breeze with lowbloods like that on a regular basis." Karkat drawled sarcastically in response. That blood caste was almost the bottom of the fucking barrel after all.

"Hey, you wanted to motherfucking know. Go asking questions and you're gonna get motherfucking answers."

For the most part anyways. There was some things Gamzee wasn't going to tell him.

Pursing his lips, the mutant-blood eyed the highblood who appeared to be sliding off into his own thoughts once again. From what he'd heard he'd called their awkward little companion 'Tavbro' which was certainly not a term by which any of them called him. "What was his name?"

"Huh?" Gamzee mused, looking back up at the question.

"I may not be Aradia with her gog damn powers but I'm not an asshat like you. You know whoever this fuckass was, didn't you? What was his name?"

His brows furrowed at the question and he took a moment to consider how to answer. "Tavbr-...uh...I mean, Tavros." It felt so odd saying his name after so long and the highblood even went as far as to run his tongue along the ridge of his teeth to try to rub the feeling away. He had no idea what his last name had been but there'd never been any real reason to know it but it probably would've been nice to know now that he was being questioned about it. Maybe this lowblood knew something about him.

And Karkat did indeed know quite a bit about said lowblood. However, he kept a solid pokerface and gave a small hum, "Tavros, huh? Sounds like a good name for whatever poor fuckass had the unfortunate fate of running smack into this wagon full of highblooded bullshittery." On that cheerful as fuck note, Karkat pulled himself from the ground to dust off the ass of his pants with a few brushes of his hands. Bending back over, he plucked the cup from the ground and returned it to the table.

As he pushed open the flap of the tent, he heard the subjugglator speak.

"Hey."

"What?" Karkat demanded, glancing over his shoulder towards the male.

"Don't motherfuckin' breathe a word of this to anyone."

A smirk slid its way to the corners of Karkat's lips and he chuckled, "A bit late for that. Your assault on our dear lowblood is the buzz of the whole fucking camp. It's spread faster than fleas on the fucking infested hide of a hoofbeast."

And he was gone.

Staring at the spot he'd left, Gamzee felt dread start to bubble in his stomach. If his father caught wind of this...

"Motherfuck." He groaned, tilting his head back to hit it against the pole, despite the sudden flash of pain it reawakened against the sore spot.

He then spent the better part of the day twisting stubbornly at the rope but his results were minimal. The most it did was frayed the edges and chaffed his wrists, raising indigo bruises and cuts to the surface of his skin.

He stopped his concentration with a curse of frustration and wilted back against the pole to close his eyes. How long was he going to be here? He could only imagine what nonsense they were thinking up now that they'd managed to capture of the son of the Highblood. Would they even consider releasing him?

At some point he must've dozed off because someone had managed to get into the tent without him hearing. He only woke when they attempted to stir him from his sleep and Gamzee noted the soft brush of fingers against his arm as the troll reached out and he was awake in an instant. Indigo eyes snapped open and a leg was quick to lash out, effectively knocking the intruder to the ground with a yelp and a thud. Gamzee glowered with a snarl twisting his lips, "Keep your motherfuckin' hands all up and in your own fuckin' space."

The troll untangled himself from the ground and staggered back up to his feet. "I-...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, uh, scare you." The look on his face slid away as he realize he'd knocked the Tavros look-alike on his ass and his lips pursed together silently for a moment, "No, you just startled a brother. I don't think anyone like you could get around all up and scarin' motherfuckers."

"O-oh...well, I'm still sorry."

Gamzee watched the brown-blood twist at the black, sleeveless hoodie he wore for a moment, taking into account the fact he refused to look him in the eye. Well, most trolls wouldn't look him in the eye on a regular basis but , given the circumstances, he could think of quite a few who would've jumped on the chance to mock him for being in such a position at the moment. Just not this one.

"Clearly you got somethin' restin' on your motherfucking think-pan there so, come on, get your motherfuckin' speech on." He demanded, a bit too sharply than he meant to and it was evident he'd stuck a nerve on the boy by the way he flinched.

"Y-you're Gamzee Makara, aren't you?"

"I figure so, considerin' there's no other Gamzee Makara you could be all up and refferin' to."

The lowblood's fingers tightened on the black fabric in his grasp, fingers plucking at one of the frayed tears across the front that reveal the white tank-top underneath. Despite his better judgement, Gamzee took a risk. "And would you happen to have a recollection of a lowblood named Tavros in that think-pan of yours?"

The way that the brown-blood froze was all the answer he needed and the other troll seemed to realize it as well.

Gamzee's fingers curled at the ropes on his wrists and his heart fluttered weakly in his chest. Perhaps it was a good thing he was sitting down since he might've damn well passed out. "I thought you were motherfucking dead, Tavbro..." He mused softly. Tavros briskly shook his head in response, "N-no...I-..." No, he couldn't just tell him how he survived an execution sentence without putting the troll in danger. "I'm here to help you escape." He supplied instead, stepping forwards to pull a knife from its sheath at his waist.

Gamzee watched as the smooth tip of the blade slid beneath the ropes on his wrists.

"I think not, Tavros."

Both trolls froze before looking cautiously towards the source of the voice and a frown of displeasure appeared in seconds across Gamzee's face as the sight of Summoner. Tavros seemed just as displeased to see his father but for a different reason.

"Uh, h-hi...Dad..." He whispered, slowly retracting his knife from the rope as the taller troll strode forward, looking between the two for a moment. Gamzee stared down the lowblood in silence until his attention turned to Tavros who diverted his gaze at the ground sheepishly on reflex.

"Give it." He demanded suddenly, holding out his hand towards Tavros who looked startled at the command and uncertainly kept the knife back until he realized his father meant business and reluctantly gave it up. "Dad, I-" He began but was silenced with a hard look.

Brown eyes turned onto Gamzee and the indigo-blood's eyes widened momentarily as the weapon flashed down towards him. He'd squeezed his eyes shut at some point but the only thing he felt was a small tug at his wrists and the ropes were falling away onto the ground. Blnking, Gamzee let his arms lower down to his sides, gently rubbing against his abused wrists as he turned a suspicious and questioning look up towards Summoner who wrinkled his nose lightly in response.

What did this mean, was he give a free pass or what? Or was he simply being released to be killed in a battle royale fashion. Everyone knew there was no glory in killing a prisoner when they were tied up.

His attention slid over to Tavros for a moment who was just as lost as to what was going on . For a few moments longer, Gamzee remained on the ground, curling a leg underneath him just in case this actually was going to dissolve into a fight to the death. Better to be ready than caught completely off guard.

However, the Summoner turned on his heel and made his way towards the tent's entrance, "Tavros, come." The boy faltered briefly, giving Gamzee a brief glance before breaking into a light jog to catch up to the taller troll. He was really lost now, was he supposed to get up and leave? Was this a test? He wasn't left hanging long as the Summoner stopped in the entrance of the tent and shot a stern look back at him, "Get your ass in gear, highblood. You and me, we need to have a little chat."


	8. Abscond Until Tomorrow

Maybe staying in the tent would've been a better and safer idea on Gamzee's part.

The highblood sidled his way uneasily past the Summoner who lifted the flap of the tent with an arm as the male approached, eyeing him down with a frown as he passed.

However, that wasn't the part that made him regret stepping out into the open.

Indigo irises slid away from the taller troll to look around. It was night, judging by the dark shadows that were even darker and the appearance of more stars in the permanently darkened sky of Alternia. Everything about Alternia was dark on a regular basis really. The air was crisper out in the open and the highblood indulged himself with a deep breath. Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement and looked over to Tavros who was whispering something with his father but trailed off when he noted Gamzee looking at him and the highblood could visibly see his throat constrict as he swallowed nervously.

He did see something else in the boy's eyes that verged on being either realization of something or alarm.

And it appeared to be alarm as he shouted his name in warning.

A grunt left his lips as a force came crashing into him, effectively pile driving him into the ground in a tangle of limbs. As his ears rang from the impact, he let out a curse as a fist connect against the side of his jaw, sending a flash of pain through the point of impact.

"You son of a bitch!"

Oh, that lisp was going to haunt him for the rest of his life, wasn't it?

Managing to pull his leg free, he drove his knee up into Sollux's stomach with as much force as he could before using the heel of his palm to crack a blow up underneath his jaw. It stunned the lowblood, but he was recovering faster than he expected.

A hand came into his line of vision and they were suddenly being wrenched apart, Sollux flailing at the air to try to get at him once again while Gamzee merely staggered to keep his balance as he was yanked from the ground.

"What is wrong with th' both of ya? Gog damn!"

Gamzee let his indigo tongue slip from between his lips to lick away blood trickling from the busted skin there, spitting out the irony substance into the dirt as he turned his gaze onto the Summoner who had decided to intervene. Clearing his throat, Gamzee looked over to Sollux who was fuming still but had settled for wiping away a streak of yellow blood from his chin that had no doubt come from biting his tongue when Gamzee'd clocked him underneath the jaw.

"Nothin's wrong. I'm sure my dear Solbro here would get his motherfuckin' explainin' on," A smug sneer slid across his face as he watched Sollux's bi-colored eyes narrow, "Of course, granted he could get his thpeech muthcle there wagglin' properly without rithking a catathtrophy of a mirthful degree."

Sollux let out an enraged growl at the mocking and lunged for Makara again.

The Summoner's lip curled in irritation and he brought the two crashing into each other's heads with a sharp yank on the collar of their shirts before releasing them to drop on the ground.

Even Gamzee had to admit that had hurt like a motherfucker. Hissing in pain, the highblood crumpled to his knees, cradling his head while Sollux had flat out dropped to his side, curling up into a ball with a whimper of pain.

"Both of you need to shut the fuck up before I flip my shit." Summoner growled before delivering a light kick to Sollux, "You, get your scrawny ass outta here 'fore I throw you. Makara, get up or did a little bump on your head render you into an immovable pile of pansy ass?"

Tavros gingerly slid his way around the scene to ease Sollux back to his feet, "What was that for?" He hissed to the fellow lowblood who was starting to piece himself back together from the sudden assault on his skull. Accepting the help of the brown-blood, Sollux gritted his teeth with a growl, his bitten tongue rendering his speech worse than it was already, "I heard from KK that thith fuckwad tried attacking you. Tho I figured I'd rid the world of one more highblood."

"S-Sollux!" he stammered in shock, "You can't do that! Besides, it-...it was a, uh, simple misunderstanding! He-...he wasn't _chasing_ me... Well, not exactly..."

"Not from what I heard."

An exasperated sigh slid past Tavros' lips as he ushered the yellow-blood away, "N-no, it's, uh, it's complicated. I'll talk about this later."

When Sollux had finally gone, Tavros looked back to the other two nearby. It had seemed that they were ready to go as well and he fell into step alongside his father, ducking down underneath one of the large wings that sprouted from his shoulder blades in the process.

Gamzee fell into step after them once he was given a beckoning look.

"So, Makara, what do ya plan on doing now that you found out Tavros is actually alive? Huh?" The Summoner ventured, slipping his hands into the pockets of his pants as they strolled through the camp that was quiet, now that everyone had turned in for the night for the most part besides a select few that were standing watch. "Gonna go run back to your father like a little bitch and squeal 'bout everything that went down?"

"D-Dad..." Tavros hissed quietly in a horrified tone, not quite believing what he was hearing. When his father had said he'd talk to the subjugglator about everything he hadn't wanted it to be in such a manner!

Gamzee clenched his teeth at the mocking tone and scowled, "If you're up and refferin' to the unfortunate turn of events leading all up to my motherfuckin' capture, he probably has already caught the motherfuckin' whisperings of the little twitterbeasts carryin' on the miraculous message." His gaze met Tavros' for a moment and the lowblood held it for a fleeting second before looking off across the camp at nothing particularly interesting.

"But if you're suggestin' I'm gonna go spilling my metaphorical guts all over his motherfuckin' boots about Tavbro you have another thing coming."

Unexpectedly, an amused smile worked its way across the Summoner's face and he chuckled lowly for a moment, "You're smarter than ya look, highblood."

He wasn't entirely sure if he should be taking that as a compliment or not and settled on keeping his mouth shut.

"So the question remains as to if I can trust you around my son."

A frown deepened Gamzee's features and a displeased look narrowed his eyes, "What do ya'll think you're all up and suggesting?"

The Summoner lifted his shoulders in an innocent shrug, "Well, in case ya forgot, you're a highblood. From what I remember we're in war and I'm sure yer old man's pounded the rules of warfare into your head by now."

For a moment, Gamzee thought to argue with him but his mouth slowly shut before he could respond and he felt a low growl threatening to sound at the knowing smirk on Summoner's face. He heaved an exasperated sigh however and looked away with a bitter frown, "I don't want him up and leaving again." His gaze stole a brief glance over to Tavros who looked a combination of happy and embarassed with how things were going.

Sollux, on the other hand...he wouldn't mind bashing that lowblood's head in.

"Now, I feel like there's some questions you wanna get off your chest."

There were indeed a few questions that Gamzee had in mind; namely one.

"How'd he avoid having his motherfucking head cut off? Or what sort of magic are you motherfuckers dabbling into bring him back?"

A thoughtful hum left the Summoner and he glanced over to his son, "I think that's his place to go spilling shit about that little event. So, little man, wanna tell this fucker what went down?"

Tavros blinked at he suggestion and a wary look appeared on his face, "Dad...I, uh...I don't think-. W-what about...y'know."

A soft snort sounded from the brown-blood and he shook his head, "I don't think he'd do anything about it but there's only one way to be sure. Highblood," He demanded, looking to Gamzee who raised a dark brow lightly in response, "If we reveal how Tavros escaped are you going to go be a bitch and kill the troll or go rat it out to your father?"

"You're really starting to all up and motherfuckin' piss me off, brother..."

"See, I told ya, Tavros. This little bitch ain't gonna do nothing." He ignored the uncomfortable look his son was giving him with his choice language and reached out a hand to ruffle his fluffy mohawk briefly, "I'm gonna split. Got shit to do, bitches to woo, stay out of trouble. And you," He stated, shooting a warning look to Gamzee, "Better behave or am I gonna have to regret letting you loose?"

Gamzee shook his head and watched the Summoner disappear off around a corner, leaving the two alone at last. The second he was gone, Gamzee lunged for Tavros- much to the lowblood's surprise- and grabbed his bicep, pulling him into a tight hug that was probably verging on the threat of crushing his ribs. He nuzzled into this hair for a moment until he felt Tavros squirm in against his arms.

"G-Gamzee...I-, uh, I can't breathe."

Blinking a bit, the highblood released his hold on the male with a small frown, "Woops, my bad, motherfucker..."

"It's all right." Tavros assured him, tugging down his shirt that had been ruffled from the sudden hug and his gaze turned back to look at the tall troll before him. He had certainly grown a lot since he last saw him; he'd been much shorter then and not so lanky. Even his horns seemed longer than what he could remember. Swallowing nervously, the troll spoke up, "I'm sure you want to know what-, uh, what happened, right?"

"Yeah."

"W-well, I would tell you but, uh, it wouldn't feel right of me," He paused upon seeing the obviously miffed expression on Gamzee's face, "Since it's not just my secret." He finished quickly in hopes to pacify him some.

Gamzee's brows furrowed together in perplexion and his nose wrinkled some, "Then...can you even inform a motherfucker or what?"

"I-...I can't, uh, personally. B-but...ask, uh, w-well, you can ask Terezi."

Terezi? What would she know about any of this? She'd been nearly the same age as them at he time but Pyrope did have a weird way of knowing things that others thought she wouldn't. The only good part about that was that she kept those things secret until something came up that she would need them...

He had a feeling it was going to be frustrating prying the information from her but what choice did he have.

"Fine..." He grumbled reluctantly and opened his mouth to say something for a moment only to be cut off by Tavros.

"You should leave."

Blinking a the suggestion, he was quick to shoot down his idea, "No motherfuckin' way. I don't intend to move one motherfuckin' foot until-"

"Gamzee, please."

The highblood trailed off for a moment at the pleading look that crossed the brown-blood's face and he pursed his lips, "Why?"

"You've been here for almost a full day or more. Do you honestly think your father will sit still while someone who carries his name is a captive? "

He had a point there... The Grand Highblood wouldn't be happy with him getting captured but he'd be even less pleased at the prospect of his own son being degraded to the title of 'prisoner' and would come tearing up anything in his path- even if it meant the lowblood camp- if it meant keeping both of their reputations in check.

Chewing on his lip thoughtfully, Gamzee finally heaved a sigh of defeat, "Fine, fine, I'll go." He agreed before eyeing down Tavros sternly, "But I'm not gonna stay put. I'll...I'll find a motherfuckin' reason to come back." Or a way in general.

Tavros' brown eyes studied over the highblood's face and a small smirk tugged at the corners of his lips at the determined way his jaw was set and his brows were furrowed. He lost it and his lips parted into a grin and he chuckled, "I have no doubt you'll find a way." His words were muffled into silence as he was pulled into Gamzee's chest once again, face muffled against his vest and he squirmed some in the hug so he could breathe properly and look at the highblood.

"I've motherfuckin' missed you, Tavbro."

A small pang of guilt hit the lowblood for not telling Gamzee he was actually alive for so long but at the time it was for the better. Now that he'd been found out there really was no point in trying to keep it a secret anymore.

"Oh, gog fucking damn! If I wanted to see you nooksniffers all over each other I would've brought a fucking bucket."

Gamzee lifted his head at the familiar, snarky tone and spotted Karkat standing nearby with the reigns of his Horsaroni in hand.

"Karkat..." Tavros mused, turning a dark shade of brown at the suggestive mentioning of a bucket but it was ignored by the mutant-blood.

"If you're leaving you're gonna need this fucking thing to get you on your merry fucking way." He stated, walking over to thrust the reigns into Gamzee's hand. The highblood nodded lightly in agreement and maneuvered around the creature to climb up onto its back.

A brief thought crossed his face as to how Tavros would've known which tent he was being held in and he turned a toothy grin onto Karkat, "Thanks, motherfucker."

Despite himself, a smile tugged at Karkat's lips and he attempted to hide it with a nonchalant flip of his hand, "Whatever. Just get your scrawny ass out of here before I beat you down myself."

Gamzee spared one glance to Tavros who smiled and lifted his hand in a parting gesture as the indigo-blood reined his mount off out of the camp.

He took a brief, last look over his shoulder at the figures of Karkat and Tavros standing together as they watched the highblood leave. He'd been told to talk to Terezi about Tavros but…he still didn't see how she would have anything to do with his survival Well, he'd just have to ask about that as soon as he got back.

Once his father was done giving him a verbal reaming, of course.


	9. Secrets of Dragons

**A/N: **Next chapter for you guys and I just wanted to say thanks. c: I've gotten so many nice reviews so far and I'm glad you guys like the story. I recently had surgery and I'm all groggy on these pain killers so updates may be kind of slow. This chapter's dedicated to keysofchains on tumblr (evanescences angel on here) because this crazy bitch reviews every chapter and she's just all around awesome. xD So enjoy. I fought past my drug-induced haze to get this up for you.

* * *

Word must have traveled faster to his father than he'd assumed.

As he approached the gates of the Court of Miracles, Gamzee noted that they were wide open and within were groups of armed trolls filing into ranks or running about to get their armor and weapons. Rubbing his wrist softly, he slowed his Horsaroni to a gentle walk, weaving his way through the people and into the courtyard. They were so preoccupied, no one seemed to even notice he was there.

While he may not have been correct on his guess as to how quickly his father would move to destroy the lowblood camp, he knew he would've assembled a group eventually. And from the looks of the soldiers that had been selected, they meant business.

He was nearly across the opening, to the stables, and part of him figured he may have been able to sneak inside to find his father without causing a scene amongst the trolls in the public eye.

Eridan Ampora would be the one to crush that little spark of hope though.

"Gamzee gog fuckin' damn Makara!"

"Awww, fuck a motherfucker..." Gamzee drawled woefully under his breath, a frown crossing his lips as his frame wilted forward in his saddle in exasperation. Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing then and a few ran off to go inform the castle that Makara's son had returned on his own while a few others rushed forward to swarm him, effectively blocking off any route of escape he could've had.

It wasn't the crowd he wanted to avoid...

It was the seadweller.

The juggalo blinked as he felt a firm hand grab onto his leg and could only let out a small curse of surprise as he was suddenly yanked down off of his mount. He half expfected to hit the ground but instead found his face buried into soft, purple fabric. Squirming in the seadweller's hold, Gamzee lifted his head to try to get his bearings and realized he was being toted off over Eridan's shoulder like a sack of grubflour. "Eribro, put me the motherfuck down. As you can damn well see the condition of my legs is motherfuckin' miraculous so-"

"Shut the fuck up, Gam!"

The sharp demand had gone completely unexpected put the highblood into silence. He closed his lips together in a frown and kept quiet for the remainder of the awkward ride back to his room where he was dumped unceremoniously onto the floor with a thud. Cursing at the lack of warning, Gamzee peeled himself from the floor to shoot a glare at Eridan through the fringe of his bangs, "What the-"

Eridan's teeth flashed in a snarl, "Oh, don't use that damn tone with me, Gam, you know what happened. Didn't I tell you somethin' would go wrong?"

"Eri-"

"Gog, no one ever listen's to me! It's like you all got a fuckin' malfuctionin' a your auditory ossicles or some shit!"

"Eridan-"

"And on top a it all I even tried to fuckin' warn you about what would happen, goin' into enemy territory without a fuckin' care in the world!"

"Eridan, would you motherfuckin' listen to me!" Long fingers grabbed the edge of seadweller's cape and yanked him onto the floor with a bit more force than was necessary. But it served its purposes in getting the troll to shut up. Indigo eyes glared down into purple and Eridan slowly let his own anger defuse itself with a thick swallow. Reaching up, Eridan took the fabric of his cape into his own hands and tugged it free from Gamzee's grasp. Easing himself up into a sitting position, the male folded his legs together with a stern frown and heaved a sigh, "Very well, you better have a good fuckin' reason for all a this."

The highblood stood for a moment to move to the troll's door, listening to the sounds outside that were muffled by the solid surface and when he was satisfied that no one was lurking beyond, he returned back to his spot on the floor.

Gamzee went off into his tale about his trip to the lowblood camp and how he'd been delivering the terms his father wanted him to give. When he got to the part about this Tavros look alike and how it actually _had_ been Tavros, the seadweller became aware of how his mannerisms suddenly changed. He gestured more with his hands and a grin had slowly started to quirk at the corners of his lips which was something that Eridan hadn't seen for a long time when the highblood spoke on a regular basis. And that spark of energy in his eyes appeared when Eridan had long ago thought it had died out with Gamzee's lusus and their, supposedly dead, friend.

As the indigo-blood finished up his explanation of what had happened, Eridan's brows were gathered together over the rims of his glasses, teeth chewing into his bottom lip thoughtfully. "So...Tav is really alive?"

"Yeah, hard to believe, ain't it?"

Eridan rested a cheek into the palm of his hand, the fingers of the other drumming lightly against his knee, "Incredibly. How exactly did he survive, Gam, tell me this. 'Cause last time I checked your old man made sure those that crossed him were good and dead."

The small smile on his lips slid away into a soft frown and indigo eyes turned to glance out the window to the dark sky, "I dunno, brother... He mentioned gettin' my motherfuckin' chat on with Tersis about that shit."

It took him a moment to realize that by 'Tersis', Gamzee had been referring to Terezi but that only made it more confusing for himself, "Terezi? That is pretty fuckin' weird."

"Yeah, but Tavbro insisted she knew something about it." Gamzee gave raised his shoulders in a nonchalant shrug for a moment and the two slid off into silence to think over the information.

But there was another matter they had to get out of the way first.

"Gam, you need to go talk to your Dad. Even if he does threatin' to cull you into the fuckin' pit a mirthfulness or whatever shit you subjugglators believe in, it's best to get it done with now."

His lips curled softly in distaste at the mere idea of having to face down his father and Gamzee stretched out a leg to scuff the heel of his boot against the ground, "Ugh, you're right, motherfucker. Can a bro make one last request in the unfortunate event of my untimely cullin'?"

Well, Eridan had only been joking about his father killing him but he figured now wasn't the time to point it out considering Gamzee had stalled long enough and the look on his face was quite serious. Lifting a hand, the seadweller nudged the glasses up his nose with a soft sigh, "I don't see why not. What is it you want, Gam?"

"Don't tell anyone about Tavbro, okay?"

Eridan blinked, gaze lifting away from a thread coming loose on his cape and raised a slender brow in a silent question.

"Not even Fef. I don't want anyone findin' out about his fuckin' existence and such... I only told you 'cause we all used to be bros and shit way back when and I thought...maybe...ya'll could motherfuckin' keep a shroud of secretism about you."

Despite himself, a smile gradually forced its way across his lips and the seadweller chuckled, leaning back on his hands, "Even if I could strangle you for worryin' me so much, I reckon I could accept your shitty apology and lame excuse for lettin' your guard down and keep a shut mouth for the consideration' a 'Tavbro'."

Gamzee's frame visibly slouched in relief and he leaned forward to grab Eridan's fins, "I could damn well motherfuckin' plant a kiss on those fuckin' miraculous lips of yours, bro."

Eridan wrinkled his nose and swatted away the troll with a scoff, "I'd rather ya not. Save your fuckin' sloppy, juggalo lovin' for some other poor sod." He readjusted his glasses once he was free and waved Gamzee out the door, "Now, go before your Dad starts stormin' the gog damn castle lookin' for your scrawny ass."

Nodding, Gamzee closed the door behind him and broke into a jog down the hall. He wasn't even within distance of his father to see what his current mood was. The few trolls he passed in the halls looked shaken and cast him wary, if not sympathetic, glances as he ran past. The closer he got, the easier it became to hear the enraged yelling from within the chamber of the grand hall.

Not hesitating to announce himself, Gamzee burst through he double doors with more force than he meant to and nearly ended up tripping down the flight of stairs leading to the main floor. The hall fell into sudden silence as the few trolls there observed his long descent down to meet his father who had paused in the middle of giving some poor troll an earful of threats for not bringing his son directly to him. A glance around the room revealed that it was mostly the commanders of their soldiers present and the higher ranking officials of the court; Redglare being one of them and Gamzee passed her with a brief glance. While he knew she was blind and those red glasses hid her eyes, he could've sworn he felt her staring right through him.

Turning his attention back onto his father as he stepped onto the main floor, the Grand Highblood waved away the troll he'd been talking to to focus a stern look onto his son.

He didn't even have time to open his mouth before the yelling began, "Was it really _that_ motherfucking hard to deliver a simple message?"

Gamzee's brows furrowed and he stopped a small, respectable, and safe distance away from the ticking time bomb that was his father. "I delivered it-"

"Then please, _please_ explain to me how you got motherfucking _captured_ of all things!"

He should've thought of an excuse for that sooner. The young subjugglator opened his mouth to speak and came out with nothing. He kept a good facade, however, and pursed his lips, eyes cold and blank while his think-pan scrambled for something, anything to tell his father and the seconds began to tick by like hours.

"Your Honor."

The voice sounding in the silence was equivalent to a pen dropping and all eyes rounded onto the source; even Gamzee had to look to see who was stupid enough to actually enter this landmine covered field of a conversation between father and son.

The Grand Highblood bared his fangs in irritation as his gaze landed onto Redglare, "What?" He demanded sharply, somehow managing to keep his cool and not explode on his trusted advisor.

Redglare squeezed her way out of the seats with casual 'excuse me's and 'pardon me's though made it a point to step on a few toes in the process. Once she was out in the aisle, she adjusted the front of her vest before striding fluidly down the stairs with little need for her trusty cane and onto the main floor; making her way up to stand next to Gamzee.

The young troll spared his elder a brief glance before looking back to his father to determine his reaction to this but was uncertain to see his face completely blank.

"My dear Highblood," Redglare began again with a toothy grin, "You are being far too harsh on your grub." That alone would've resulted in an immediate death had it been anyone else but the Highblood's eyes merely narrowed and a snarl sounded from his clenched fangs, "Do elaborate, Redglare. You clearly have no problem with interfering, you might as well come the motherfuck out with what you're wanting to say."

Folding her hands neatly behind her back, Gamzee recognized the posture as one when she was getting ready to pull some trick out of her bag of lawful justice. "Highblood, do you honestly thing your boy is at fault for his...unfortunate capture?" She paused long enough for the Highblood to get ready respond but quickly intervened, "No, no, Highblood. Listen, do not forget your boy still does not know the treacherous ways in which these lowbloods deal and you sent him right into the very midst of them; alone. I have no doubt he delivered the message, am I right?"

Gamzee snapped to attention as he realized he was being asked and nodded in confirmation before Redglare was off again.

"See? He did his duty and yet returns with no message? Why, Highblood, I believe them taking your son hostage for that small amount of time was message enough if I'm not mistaken. A declaration of sorts against you to prove that it doesn't matter who you are, they will crush your leadership with a swift hand of false justice." She declared, lifting her cane to swat at the air above her head for more emphasis, "The poor boy had no chance of fending off such barbarians."

That oddly enough seemed to work on his father.

The tall troll was busy pondering over the possibilities now and soon enough he let out a rumbling growl, "Your words speak truth, Redglare. It would amuse those motherfuckers to toy with my rage in that manner. Begone, all of you, I must think." He waved a hand to the trolls in the room and all were more than happy to part ways. Gamzee hesistated for a moment, uncertain if that was indication for him to leave as well but blinked as he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Looking towards the limb, he followed it up to find himself staring into reflective red lenses. Redglare tilted her head briefly before leaving and Gamzee took the gesture as an indication to follow.

Turning, he followed up the stairs and kept a small distance behind the Redglare's.

Which was a difficult task considering how long his strides were compared to her own.

He found they were being led out of the court towards the dragon cave. Why on earth would they be going there? He'd tried to question once but was silenced with a firm shush.

Ducking his head to avoid scraping his horns against a rock as they entered, Gamzee noted there were few dragons about and figured they must've been out hunting for prey. A sharp cry sounded above him and he looked up in time to see a flash of teal and red coming at him to crash into his arms as he caught the Terezi that had jumped from a rock above. The girl latched onto his neck with a devious grin and snickered happily, "I thought I smelled your wonderfully indigo blood, Gamzee."

"What the motherfuck, sis?" He declared with an exasperated frown, setting down the girl, "You don't go leapin' at motherfuckers like that."

"I couldn't pass up the opportunity." She declared, setting down her own cane for a moment to brush dust from her clothes, "Just like how you couldn't pass up the opportunity to find out if Tavros was a figment of your imagination or not."

The juggalo's jaw dropped at that and Terezi let out a cackle of amusement at his look but it was silenced from a short tap on the head with Redglare's cane, "Hush, Terezi. I didn't bring him here for you to tease."

They both turned their attention to Gamzee but all he could manage was stare in a blank state of shock.

At the silence, Terezi tittered behind her hand, "Mother, I do believe you rendered our Highblood speechless."

Redglare smiled before moving to Gamzee, gingerly ushering the highblood further into the cave before indicating for him to take a seat on one of the rocks surrounding the lake within the cavern. "No doubt you have questions, Makara," She began, taking a seat herself on a rock across from him, "And perhaps I have the answers. But first, I want to know one thing. If we tell you, are you willing to keep another secret and take it to your grave if necessary?"

Gamzee slowly felt himself pulling back together and he ran a tongue out against his lips for a moment before giving a nod, "I motherfuckin' figure so."

"Good."

He rubbed the palms of his hands nervously against the fabric of his pants and swallowed before taking a small breath, "So...Tavros told me to, uh, talk to you motherfuckers. He said you'd explain, y'know, how he _somehow_ managed to magician the fuck out of existence."

Redglare nodded lightly, running her fingers thoughtfully along the carved head of the dragon on her cane before speaking, "Mmm, yes. Quite a long time ago that incident was yet I still remember it like yesterday." She gave a brief glance to Gamzee and smirked, "Like you do, I'm sure."

The highblood pursed his lips; he'd rather not remember it if he could help it but now it couldn't be avoided.

"Well," She began again, "You're well familiar with what happened after your father sentenced the lowblood to death but no one, how does the saying go? Knows what happens behind closed doors? Or something of that sort, but anyways, yes, I took the lowblood from the room for his execution. Instead, I let him go."

"Yeah, but how? There's always motherfuckin' guards every where. Someone would've found it pretty fuckin' shifty if they saw you walkin' around instead of carrying out an execution."

"That's where I came in." Terezi piped up from the shallow water of the lake nearby where she'd rolled up her pants legs to wade in a ways with a young dragon, "It was easy enough for little me to sneak in through some hidden passages and sneak him out of the execution room. From there it was a simple matter of getting a dragon to carry our dear Tavros back home."

Gamzee raised a brow in disbelief once the two had finished their little explanation. Should he believe them? It seemed entirely too crazy to be true and yet...

"All right," He began, waving a hand at them to keep them from trying to prove him otherwise,

"As motherfuckin' crazy it sounds, I'll have to take your word for it." Namely because Tavros had told him that they'd known the answers he was looking for and he'd never known Tavros to tell a lie the entire time he'd known him; he'd just found ways to tiptoe around questions that would've blown his cover now that Gamzee thought about it. "Just answer one more question," He added on, tilting his head lightly to the side as his gaze scrutinized Redglare's unreadable face, "Why exactly would you help a lowblood when you seem to have your motherfuckin' loyalties set on the side of the mirthful motherfucker that is my Dad?"

Redglare casually drapped a leg across her knee to allow her foot to bounce in the air with a soft hum, "Quite a question you ask of me, Makara. But the answer you get may not be something you like," She trailed off to watch the boy, "But it seems you're finding a lot of things you don't like today. What is one more?"

Clearing her throat, the troll lifted her fingers to unbutton one of the clasps on her red vest and reached inside to grab onto a silver chain. With a small tug, the necklace slipped free and a symbol he'd seen emblazed on the flag of the mutant-blood in the lowblood camp now dangled from the chain; only in the same silver of the chain that held it around her neck. "You are well familiar with my job in this castle, Makara, are you not?" She mused, turning the necklace over in her fingers to examine it, "I am the lawyer, judge, and executioner all at once." She seemed to realize what Gamzee was thinking about the 'judge' bit and she quirked a brow,

"And thus you see my point. Yes, your father _is_ the official 'judge' so to speak," And part-time executioner but those were out of his own rage than for legal reasons, "But those that fall under execution sentences for me have another trial to go through; and Tavros passed."

Terezi came splashing out of the water with a laugh, "Well, for the most part. Mother believes that the highbloods have too much power and therefore finds the truth and justice with the teaching of the Sufferer. His methods are much more just. If only these highbloods would stop their senseless killing and look into it. Tavros, being a mere grub and a lowblood within the ranks of the Suffer, it was best to let him live."

Shockingly, it made sense, what they were saying. But there was one major problem and Gamzee had to voice it. "That's all motherfuckin' miracles and shit, but what do you think will happen if my Dad or- motherfuck- the Condesce finds out? Do you know what all kinds of unmirthful happenin's could go down?"

While Terezi pulled her boots back on, Redglare stood, tucking the necklace back into its concealed spot beneath her vest and plucked up her cane. Wandering her way over to Gamzee, she knelt down in front of him, resting her chin on the top of her cane with a sly smile, "Well, they'll just have to find out on their own. Now won't they? And when the time comes, then we can worry about that."

Gamzee stared quietly back into the lenses of her glasses before giving a slow nod, "It would motherfuckin' figure that way, I guess." No...he wasn't going to inform them about Redglare and Terezi. They weren't selling out information and, therefore, he had no reason to turn them in; the only crime they had done was accepting the teachings of the Sufferer. Besides, they had helped Tavros.

"You coming, Gamzee?"

Terezi piped up as she scampered after her mother who had left after a soft pat to Gamzee's wild hair.

"Nah, I'm gonna sit and ponder over some things fucking around up in my head for a bit, sis."

Terezi nodded and turned to leave until Gamzee spoke up again.

"Hey, sis?"

"Yes, Gamzee?"

"Thanks."

Blinking briefly, the small frown that had appeared on her face at his words slowly slid into one of her mischevious grins and she giggled happily, "I may be blind, Gamzee, but I can certainly sense that quirky smile on your lips. Has anyone told you you need to smile more often?"

The subjugglator allowed one side of his lips to move into a lopsided smirk, "You ain't the first motherfucker to tell me that, sis."


	10. Could You Really Change?

A/N: Sorry it took so long guys. I've just been really lazy about writing lately. And someone asked me why I don't do Sollux's writing quirk and it's because, at the time, I'd forgotten to do it and since it's a bit late now it'd be weird to just randomly start changing 's' into 'th'.

* * *

For the sake of keeping his father off his back, Gamzee made it a point to stay put within the castle walls for a good week or so before he even remotely considered the idea of trying to find a way to get back out. After all, had he actually taken the risk to try to sneak out after having just returned from his 'escape', shit would've hit the whirling device.

But now that his father had calmed his shit over the past few days- for the most part- Gamzee began to plot on how exactly he would get out of the guarded walls of the castle without someone informing his father about his departure. But that was the only way _to_ get out of the grounds; right through the front door. There were no back doors for more than one reason. Mainly so no one could sneak in but should there be the chance of a sudden assault on the castle, well...the best way to put it was that the highbloods within were determined to hold it till the very last troll.

The answer had come to him when he had been watching Terezi speak with Equius during the evening meal one day. Having taken little interest in the cut of moobeast laying on his plate in front of him, Gamzee allowed Feferi a few moments to chatter away to Eridan about some matter of seadweller business in favor of looking across the room. At the other end of the hall was Terezi gesturing dramatically to Equius about something or another with cane in hand. That's when it hit him. Indigo eyes widened just a bit and the juggalo straightened his posture, setting his eating utensil down to follow the dragon shaped head on the top of the blind troll's cane with his gaze.

Dragons.

As trolls began to leave for their own duties and the hall began to thin out, Gamzee remained where he sat, dinner hardly touched while he waited for those around Terezi to leave so he could approach her without the threat of someone overhearing.

"Gamzee."

Starting softly at the voice next to him, his gaze slowly slid away to focus on Feferi's fuschia eyes that were staring at him in confusion; Eridan's own giving him a similar look as he leaned around the young heiress to see what was up with their companion. "What's wrong with you? You haven't touched a single thing on your plate!" Feferi quirped, pointing a slender finger at Gamzee's food and he looked downwards for a moment. Fangs gently dug into his bottom lip as he pondered over a likely answer that would ward her away from questioning much but it seemed Eridan was going to come flying to his rescue again.

"Clearly you're over thinkin' all a this, Fef. In case you haven't noticed, Gam's puttin' on an fuckin' unslightly amount a weight lately, and frankly, he's startin' to have an uncanny resemblance to your lusus." Eridan picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth innocently though instead let out a sharp yelp as he was promptly swatted against the back of his head, "Gah! Cod damn, Fef! What was that for? And watch the fuckin' hair, would you? This shit doesn't come naturally, y'know."

"Then stop glubbin' like that about Gamzee! He's just fine how he is!" She scolded before reaching out a hand to pat the wild mop of dark hair on the indigo-blood's head, "Don't listen to that guppy. He's just jealous because you're so much cuter than _he_ is."

"Hey, that's a load a seahorse shi-!"

"Shut the shell up, Eridan, and eat your vegetables."

The seadweller was promptly silenced as Feferi unceremoniously shoved a spoon full of said food into his mouth, choking for a moment but was ultimately forced to chew and swallow. Gasping some once his wind tube wasn't in danger of being asphyxiated and stuck out his tongue from between his teeth in disgust, "Are you reely tryin' to krill me, Fef or what?"

The distraction seemed to have gone better than expected as the two began arguing as to how nutritious the content of the vile, tasteless sustenance was and Gamzee was allowed his freedom. However, a bit too late. As his attention rounded back onto where he'd seen Terezi prior, the spot was now empty and after a quick swivel of his head to scout out the area, he was assured she was long gone.

Resisting the urge to hit his head on the table out of exasperation, the highblood instead stood up with a heavy sigh, drawing the attention of the two seadwellers seated next to him. "I'm gonna go get my motherfuckin' rest on."

"Oh, all right, Gamzee!" Feferi replied after a moment, standing up to give the tall troll a hug, "Sleep tight. Don't let the crab claws pinch."

Gamzee quirked a dark brow lightly in thought at the odd saying he'd been given, "That was the weirdest 'good night' I do believe I've ever-" He was silenced with a playful punch to his stomach; grunting in response, rubbing the spot were the girl had hit him before lifting a hand casually as Eridan nodded in acknowledgement.

Slipping his way from the hall, the fairly-empty passageways gave him time to enjoy a quiet walk back to his room. As he shouldered open the wooden door, he was suddenly aware of the additional presence in his room and paused in the doorway, staring blankly back at the reflective red lenses of Terezi who had decided to lay claims on a chair in his absence.

"About time, Gamzee. I mean, honestly, you should know not to keep a lady waiting!" A grin was flashed his way and the juggalo simply frowned in confusion, closing the door behind him, "Sis, what do ya think you're all up and doing sneaking into a motherfucker's place of bountiful restoration like this?"

Terezi giggled in response and shrugged her shoulders upwards, "Well, the way you were staring me down during dinner, I figured you had something you wanted to talk to me about. And the door was open so I simply let myself in."

Wait, how had she known he was watching her-... Well, it was Terezi. Perhaps he shouldn't have been all that surprised; she had ways of knowing things despite her impaired sight.

"Well...yeah, guess I gotta own up to that." He agreed, rubbing the back of his aching neck in the process as he kicked aside an article of clothing that lay crumpled in his path and made for a chair near Terezi, plopping his mirthful ass down on it. "I wanted to talk to you about...you know." They weren't within the dense, rock walls of the dragon caverns right now and, even if it was his own room, Gamzee didn't quite feel comfortable talking about it freely here.

"Go on."

"Well, I figured since you magicianed Tavros out of here way back when you could do the same to me, in a manner of speaking."

A sly smile played along the troll's black lips and she gently pressed the tips of her fingers on the ends of the horns sprouting from the head of the dragon on her cane, "All you have to do is but say the magic words, my fine juggalo friend.

It was all but silent on the castle ground when Terezi returned for him early the next day with a sharp tap against the door with her cane. Having not been able to sleep much in the first place, Gamzee had woken up early to clean the green slime from his body and spent the next hour or so before Terezi's arrival simply sitting in front of his cold fireplace, staring at the charred bricks. Scooping his bag up from the ground as the knock sounded, he nearly pulled the door off its hinges out of excitement and simply took hold of Terezi's wrist to lead her off down the hall.

"Jegus, Gamzee, slow down before I loose my arm on top of being blind."

"Sorry..." He apologized, releasing her when he realized he _was_ walking a bit too quickly than was necessary. Terezi flashed a toothy grin before patting his arm in reassurance, "Come, miracle worker Terezi will fix you up right."

Moments later, the lanky male was ducking underneath the stone entrance into the caves. It seemed that the magnificent reptiles had returned from their night's hunting and were now scattered about in every corner, slumbering on rocks. They didn't even bother to stir but for one that lifted its sleek white head over the edge of a rock to peer down at the two intruders, red eyes locking onto Terezi before it rose to crawl over the stone and towards them.

Meeting the beast with an outstretched hand, Terezi rubbed her hand soothingly along the smooth scales covered across the snout, "Pyralspite'll take you back and forth when you need it. All you have to do is call her."

"Call her?" Gamzee repeated, walking around the large bulk of the dragon to reach Terezi's side.

"Yeah, with this." Terezi commented, reaching into the pocket of her teal pants to retrieve a small whistle that looked rather similar to the top of her cane though the 'neck' of the dragon's head had been hollowed out and drilled with holes.

"A whistle?" He mused, taking it from her to examine thoughtfully for a moment and brought it to his lips to test it out but instead yelped as he was smacked upside the head, "The motherfuck was that for?" He demanded, rubbing the abused spot while Terezi took the whistle from his hand and stuffed it into his pocket for him. "Don't blow that in here, idiot!" she hissed simply in response. There was no need to make all the dragons pissy because Gamzee was using the whistle at an unnecessary time after all!

"Just get going. You're burning precious time standing here gawking like a stunned hoofbeast." She ordered, shoving him sharply towards the dragon who seemed uncertain about this whole set up for a few moments but complied to hold still while Gamzee hoisted himself up onto the it's back with a gentle grunt. "All right, all right, I'm leaving this joint. Calm your tits." He drawled with a sigh, settling down against the gentle ridge of the dragon's spine, securing his legs quickly against the sides of the long neck as the dragon lurched onto its feet.

Stepping out of the way, Terezi leaned on her cane with a smirk, "Happy travels, Gamzee. It's about time you learned what flying felt like I dare say."

Gamzee suddenly felt a slight sense of dread settle into his stomach and his head swivled sharply to look back at Terezi, "Wait, what sort of subtleties are you dropping here by saying that sort of motherfucking' thing?"

The troll merely cackled happily in response before lifting her hand in a mock salute, "Happy sailing, Gamzee. I suggest you hold on!" She called to him as Pyralspite's wings unfurled from her sides and snapped against the air, lifting off into the air to fly for the opening in the ceiling of the caves above. He quickly latched onto the dragon's neck to keep from falling off with a startled curse.

All right... He was starting to have some motherfucking second thoughts about this.

But, to tell the truth, it wasn't so bad once the dragon leveled out against the sky; wings flapping lazily once in a while to seek out another air current with the sensitive membrane that covered its wings before gliding along. Once he was sure he wasn't in immediate danger of falling off, his grip on the dragon relaxed some and he actually spared a glance down over the side to the ground below. It was so strange seeing the trees and other decorations that spotted the landscape below at such an angle. It was thrilling, actually.

It was then that he immediately decided he liked this whole 'flying' business.

And it was over far too quickly for him as the sight of colored tents stretched along the expanse of flat land a small distance away appeared.

That was also the exact moment that Gamzee changed his mind and decided he only liked the part of flying where you actually stayed _in_ the air. The initial landing wasn't so bad; it was actually gentle as Pyralspite glided down towards the ground. The only problem was the closer they got the harder it was to stay airborne and the landing jarred Gamzee's teeth, forcing him to cling onto the dragon as it bounded ahead a few feet to keep from tripping as claws dug into the soft earth. For a few more seconds, Gamzee remained latched onto the dragon until he was certain they weren't moving and, by some grace of the mirthful motherfucking messiahs, managed to pry himself off the dragon and onto the ground.

While he was busy trying to swallow down his vascular pump, a gust of wind ruffled his hair and told him the dragon had left.

His attention turned towards the lowblood camp that lay before him to see a familiar sight waiting for him.

"Well look who fucking fell from the gog damn sky to bless us like some patronly saint of juggalo fuckery."

"Hello to you too, motherfucker..." Gamzee mused, a brow raising lightly in response to the odd greeting he received, "Would you happen to have a general recolection as to where-"

"That nooksniffing brown-blood is? Yeah, I do, unfortunately. He wanted me to come drag you to him whenever you got here. Don't give me that confused look, Terezi got a message to us that you were coming last night. So let's get a fucking move on; I'd rather not have to spend more time with this than necessary." Without waiting for a response, Karkat reached out a hand to grab the front of Gamzee's vest and all but dragged the highblood after him.

The interesting display ended when Karkat came to a soft-green colored tent and opened the flap with a huff, shoving Gamzee in first as he followed in after him, "Here you go. I have fulfilled my eternal meaning in life to serve you fuckers by delivering the juggalo as promised. Now, am I allowed to go swallow some fucking poison to end my pathetic excuse of an existence or is there something else you would love to cram down my protein chute?"

"Karkat, do stop being so mellow dramatic." A jade-blood mused gently from her position seated amonst a gathering of pillows, holding onto the edge of a shirt as she hemmed it together.

A head popped around the corner and Gamzee blinked to find himself staring at a smaller girl who sported a dark jacket with a collar of white fur to go along with her equally fluffy white hat. "Oooh, so _this_ is Tavros' highblood, huh?"

Gamzee's lips quirked into a frown and a brow raised. 'Tavros' highblood'? When had it been decided he was anyone's highblood?

Kanaya took a moment to abandon her sewing and stood; plucking a few strands of white string from the dark leggings that she wore. Straightening up, the jade-blood gingerly tucked a strand of her hair behind and ear and made her way around her pile of pillows she'd been occupying to join the small group that had formed. Dark lips pursed together in thought as she promptly circled the subjugglator, taking a moment to reach inside the pocket of her dark green jacket and pulled out a tape measure; flicking it open and began to measure out the highblood from shoulder down.

"Uh...not tryin' to throw off any harsh vibes here, but, what the motherfuck is she doing?" Gamzee mused, inching away from the troll with a perplexed look.

"I am merely taking a moment to discern what qualities you possess in your lanky frame that our dear Tavros could possibly have a note of interest in."

"Translated into an actual, coherent sentence, you just got ripped a new fucking nook by the ice queen herself." Kakart explained, crossing his arms over his chest to watch.

"Uh, you guys, seriously. I-I said I was only leaving for a minute!"

Hearing the voice from the doorway, Kanaya promptly rolled up her tape measure and returned it back to her pocket with a soft hum, "Yes, well, my apologies Tavros. But I was simply, oh, what would be the proper term for it... Ensuring a reasonable trust with our new guest."

Tavros' lips quirked in a frown and he sighed, "You guys, seriously. Gamzee's not going to do, uh, anything wrong! I don't want you guys coming off as...uhm... W-well, frankly, complete assholes." He fixated Karkat with a slight look, "Though, I know that, uh, _some_ of us can't help it." Karkat's lips curled into a mocking snarl and he was ready to set into the brown-blood but Nepeta intervened, smacking Karkat on the back to shut him up and smiled, "Well, I think it's pawsitively wonderful that you decided to come back, Gamzee. Tavros used to say so much about you when we were little."

"Nepeta!" Tavros practically shrieked in horror, latching onto the girl to cover her mouth while her muffled giggles sounded through his hand, "T-t-that was a long time ago! Quit telling him stuff like that!"

Gamzee watched the odd little group in silence. It was strange to see how they interacted with one another compared to highbloods; they were far less stiff about personal space and on how to address one another, depending on their status within the hemospectrum. But clearly they had no regards for that sort of system and it wasn't at all surprising, considering who was leading them. Raising a brow, Gamzee tilted his head thoughtfully as he looked on.

It actually seemed kind of nice to tell the truth.

And yet, when Nepeta decided to latch onto his arm, he couldn't help but find it a bit awkward. Feferi did that a lot, he'd admit, but he knew the young heiress on a personal level and yet this troll he'd just met was grabbing him like she had known him forever. Clearly this one liked to think there was some good in everyone if she could help it.

He had no real choice but to follow as he was yanked from the slight distance he'd been standing away from the group and within the little circle itself. Tavros peered up to the lanky highblood and flashed a grin, "I-..uhm... I thought it would be appropriate if you were formerly introduced to everyone. You're already familiar with Karkat, but, uh, this is Nepeta and this is Kanaya."

Now that she wasn't busy trying to get a feel out for Gamzee's intentions, the jade-blood gave a small curtsy and smiled, "It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Gamzee. I too have heard some amusing tales from Tavros. And I must apologize for knocking you out previously. I hadn't been sure what the circumstances were at the time." Nepeta as well flashed a bright grin at him, "You're going to come visit more often from now on, right?"

"Let's hope not."

That familiar bubbling of irritation leaked back into his system and Gamzee glanced over his shoulder to see the mustard-blood and the other strange girl from before entering the tent.

"Sorry we're late, there was some business we had to attend to prior."

"Oh, uh, it's all right, Aradia."

Nepeta, however, was more concerned with what Sollux had said. "Why not, Sollux? I don't see why he couldn't stop by if he wanted to."

"Ugh, are you guys really _this_ retarded? He's a _highblood_. Y'know, the nemesis to our kind, remember?"

"Oooh, 'nemithith'. I gotta give you a motherfuckin' round of applause for bein' able to get that all out without trippin' up."

"Shut it, Makara. Anyways, as I was saying before being so _rudely_ interupted. He may be fine for now but what are we going to do when we're out there actually _fighting_ and we come across him? Stand there and let him cave our skulls in like melons?"

"Sollux, I don't think-"

"Yeah, you don't think he'd actually do it, do you? Well, let me give you this nugget of information, TV. He's a subjugglator; son of the Grand Highblood himself. Do you really think he'd risk disobeying one of his father's direct orders to kill one of us if it came down to it?" The awkward silence that had settled was enough of an answer and Sollux pursed his lips, "That's what I thought. Well, TV, it's been an awesome meeting here but I have stuff to do right now, so later."

Aradia let out a gentle breath of air and turned her gaze back to Gamzee, "I must apologize on his behalf. He's not very trusting of anyone outside of our close circle as it is, let alone a highblood. He'll come around eventually, I'm sure."

Gamzee gave a soft hum in response, watching the space where Sollux had disappeared. No, he wouldn't ever think of hurting Tavros but... If his father ordered it of anyone else...

Perhaps Sollux was right.


	11. A Little Catching Up

Gamzee's indigo tongue slid out to lick the last bits of crumbs from his fingers that had remained from the lunch they'd eaten inside the tents moments ago and he set down his empty bowl with a content sigh. He hadn't even realized how hungry he'd been until the scent in the warm soup and bread hit him like a stampede of hoofbeasts.

The others were still finishing off the remainder of their own meals so Gamzee took it upon himself to get up and go investigate what was outside. He nudged open the flap of the tent though instantly let out a surprised yelp as a spoon suddenly bounced off the top of his head and clattered to the ground. A bewildered expression lingered on his face for a moment as he stared at the offending projectile and finally turned to shoot a slight look at the group of trolls behind him.

His look was returned and he scanned over them until Nepeta and Tavros through a brief glance to Karkat who was, unsurprisingly, lacking a spoon.

"Why are you launching eating utensils all up at a motherfucker's head?" He demanded at once with a frown, letting the tent flap flutter shut so he could properly shoot a displeased look at the mutant-blood.

"Because, asswipe, you don't need to be sticking your gog damn juggalo ass in everyone's business around here. Someone might actually end up killing you."

A light grimace crossed Tavros' face at the thought and he nodded softly in agreement, "He's, uh, right. You're not the most, you know, uh... Welcomed sight around here." There were a few he could think of that would love to find any reason to run a sword through Gamzee while they had the chance; granted the Sufferer wouldn't be happy about it at all but it was still, technically, one less threatening highblood to deal with in the end. Gamzee pursed his lips into a straight line at the warning he received but complied with the imploring look Tavros was giving him and made his way back over to the ring of pillows they'd been sitting on; plopping his ass back down on one.

Their conversation turned to Nepeta as she babbled on about and injured meowbeast she'd found in the woods a couple of days ago and Kanaya was questioning her as to the progress on how the creature was healing...

Gamzee had sort of tuned out at that point and had let his gaze wander over to the brown-blood seated across from him. And, for a brief moment, the subjugglator let his mind wander back to happier times as he listened to the male get into it with Nepeta about what she was going to name the animal she'd rescued. His brown eyes seemed to light up whenever he got talking about something that interested him and that bright grin of his hadn't changed a bit; neither had that peanut butter blush that spread across his face and clear to his ears when he realized that Gamzee was staring at him.

The highblood was snapped from his thoughts with a grunt as he felt an elbow lodge itself into his side. He rubbed the abused spot with a scowl; eyes turning away from Tavros to shoot Karkat a light glare.

"Oh, don't even give me that look you nookwhiffing loser. I'm getting real tired of watching you gaze at that shitstain over there like some sort of flushstruck female at the peak of fucking mating season." Karkat rolled his eyes at the thought and wrinkled his nose, "Just go take him behind the fucking tent already and do him."

Gamzee was, quite literally, at a loss of words at the mutant-blood's suggestion but he somehow managed to find his voice. "What makes you think I'm observing a motherfucker in such a manner? It's just a wonderment of my think-pan as to how he's been all these sweeps."

A sneer made its way across Karkat's face and he uncrossed his arms from his chest to lean closer to the highblood, "You believe whatever you want but you're not fooling me." He settled back away from Gamzee with a huff, "I've studied the behavioral traits of these sort of quadrants plenty so I know what the fuck I'm talking about. You may not realize it now but that dreamy as fuck look on your face is indication enough of what's bound to happen. I just hope you know what shit you're in for then."

Gamzee eyed the male uncertainly; partially questioning how sane he was until he felt a hand on his head and he blinked, looking up towards the source to see Tavros standing next to him with a small smile. "Uh... How a-about we go for a walk, Gamzee? It's- uh, it's been a while so I was thinking that... Y'know, maybe w-we could, uh, catch up and-"

"Oh my fucking gog! Just _take_ the bastard and get lost, Tavros! Preferably before I start puking up blood from this shitty bromance you two idiots have going on."

That was enough motivation for Gamzee to pull himself to his feet and allowed Tavros to take his arm; pulling him from the tent before Karkat could unleash more of his fury onto them. Though Gamzee was beginning to catch on that the mutant-blood's moodiness was a normal occurance around here.

Tavros didn't even seem to realize he was still holding onto Gamzee's arm as they walked but it definitely registered moments later and he quickly let him go as if he'd received an electric shock, "I- uhm, I'm sorry about Karkat... He's a bit pissy and, uh, everything-"  
"A bit?"

A small smile quirked Tavros' lips and he chuckled, "Well, h-he does have his grace moments... From time to time." Though they were rare and few between.

A smirk pulled itself across his painted lips and Tavros flashed a small one of his own before turning his gaze away to stare off at a group of lowbloods that called his name as they passed. Tavros took a moment to lift his hand in greeting before he chewed nervously on his lip, "So...uh, Gamzee. H-how has Eridan been? Is he still as, uhm, irritable as ever?" He ventured, grinning at the recollection of their other playmate from when they were younger. He'd never approved of Gamzee letting the little lowblood come hang out with them but, despite his constant moaning and nagging, he always joined them in their adventures around the castle grounds. It was an odd sort of friendship he'd had with the seadweller but one nonetheless.

"Eridan?" A thoughtful look made its way across Gamzee's face as he pondered over how to tell Tavros about the seadweller, "Well... He's still has a particular liking to scarves and capes."

Well, that was almost answer enough right there. Tavros nodded lightly in thought before venturing to question once more, "I'm sure he's, uhm, trying to fill his father's boots, huh?" Dualscar's demise had certainly been news around the lowblood camp for a while so he had to be curious about his son.

A small frown morphed from his previous smirk at the mention of Dualscar and the juggalo heaved a sigh, "As much as a motherfucker all up and can." It was no secret that Eridan had been close with his father and looked up to him in ways that made Gamzee, honestly, jealous. But the bitterness he felt towards his own father couldn't be helped any. Tavros seemed to take note of his sudden, thoughtful silence and pursed his lips lightly.

Maybe he shouldn't have mentioned it...

"Uhm... I-I saw that dragon you came with today. Do you think we could go, uhm, see it?" He quickly ventured, blinking at the slight look of confusion he was given and flashed a grin, "I mean, uh, if you want. It's not like we _have_ to or anything. I just, uh-... W-we never really get to see dragons around here-"  
"Sure."

A baffled expression crossed his face at the answer he got and his brows furrowed some, "Really?"

Gamzee was already in the process of pulling the whistle from his pocket with a raised brow, "Why in such a big wonderment? You asked to see the majestic motherfucker, so why not?" Tavros settled for keep his lips sealed before he made himself look like an even bigger idiot. He hadn't meant to seem so genuinely thrown off by it but he didn't expect Gamzee would be so willing to comply with his suggestion.

Then again, he never had dismissed one of his suggestions when they were younger.

It didn't take long for them to pick their way through the camp and into the forest. Gamzee had, frankly, no idea where the fuck he was going since they'd never gotten this far into enemy territory before but Tavros appeared to know exactly where he was going. The brown-blood led him to an opening in the trees that seemed to be part of a river system; eventually feeding into the small waterfall that crashed down from the rockface nearby and into a large lake. He'd been too busy gawking at the waterfall to register that Tavros was trying to get his attention until he felt a hands grab his face and turned his head.

Blinking, Gamzee stared quietly at the brown eyes that stared back in silence until Tavros seemed to realize he was supposed to be saying something. Clearing his throat, he removed his hands and indicated to the whistle that was clutched loosely in his fist, "Y-you can, uh, use that now."

"Oh, yeah." He'd almost forgotten what they were here for. Bringing it to his lips, he blew a puff of air into it and paused after a moment... No sound. "I think this motherfucker has reached the end of the line." He mused, shaking it thoughtfully to see if he could hear a loose piece rattling around inside it.

"I, uh, don't think that's the case." Tavros mused, his senses picking up on the sudden presence of a large creature flying their direction. Almost a minute later, the tops of the trees rustled in the gust of wind that followed as the white figure of the dragon soared overhead, circling back around to land with a soft thud.

"Well... Nevermind then." Gamzee mused, pocketing the whistle as he stepped forward to approach the reptile. The sleek head cocked slightly to the side to better examine the approaching trolls with a large, red eye. It seemed a bit wary of Tavros and a soft screech sounded as he reached out a hand for it. All it took was a simple matter of soothing the beast with a few calm words and pats to its broad shoulder before the head twisted down to sniff curiously at the strange lowblood and something seemed to amuse Tavros; a chuckle sounding softly from him in amusement.

"What?"

A brief glance over his shoulder confirmed that Gamzee was giving him another one of his confused looks and the lowblood smirked, "Nothing really. She, well, she said I don't smell like you, uh, highbloods do." Though it was understandable since the number of lowbloods they had at the castle was few and far between and those they did have were not allowed near the dragons. "You can _talk_ with this motherfucker?" Gamzee demanded incredulously, turning his gaze up to the dragon who seemed more than content to let Tavros scratch his fingers up underneath its maw.

"This 'motherfucker' as you so kindly, uh, put it is actually a 'she'. And yes, I can... I-in a way... It's sort of hard to explain.""Well, I'm just taken back by this whole new motherfuckin' development."

Tavros grinned sheepishly and shrugged, "I've actually been, uh, a-able to do it since I was little. Just not as good as I can now. It-...it takes practice and I'm not, uh, you know, anywhere near close to being good as my, uh, Dad yet." He could only commune with a few animals at a time but his father was the fucking master at this sort of thing. He finally removed his hands from the smooth scales covering the dragon's snout after one last pat and watched her move to preen at one of the large claws on her paw. "She's beautiful." He breathed softly under his breath. The few dragons he'd seen around the camp weren't as stark white as this and they certainly didn't have red eyes.

He took a moment to climb up onto the dragon's back and lounged there, looking down to Gamzee for a moment, "I, uh, also saw you have facepaint now."

Gamzee lifted a hand to brush his fingers along a white cheek and nodded, "Yep. Finally came to that time that I had to all up and prove myself." That was all he decided on telling him about the experience but it was clear on Tavros' face that he was curious as to what he'd had to do exactly to get it. Thankfully for Gamzee, he'd get to avoid the topic since Tavros seemed like he wasn't going to ask further even though he wanted to. It wasn't new information as to what the subjugglators had the young ones do to initiate them into their ranks and it wasn't nice; he could use his imagination.

After a moment of silence, Tavros shifted to lay on his stomach and reached down a hand towards Gamzee, "Come on." He stated, flexing his fingers as an indication for him to grab on. The juggalo stared quietly at the limb; eyes moving between the offered hand and Tavros before he finally complied and grabbed hold, letting Tavros help as he pulled himself up onto the dragon's back.

"Y-you might want to hold on."

Gamzee didn't even have a chance to ask why as the dragon suddenly stopped what it was doing and lurched to his feet; bounding off into the air. On reflex, Gamzee grabbed onto Tavros who laughed, trying to muffle down the noise behind a hand but it was of little use, "I told you to hold on."

Gamzee promptly narrowed his eyes with a scowl, "It would've been pretty chill if you were to warn a motherfucker before you start getting your conversation on with the beastie here." He lightly whapped the back of Tavros' head as he continued to snicker.

Once he was sure he wasn't in danger of falling off, Gamzee reluctantly released his hold on Tavros and peered out at their surroundings. He would've been perfectly content to stay where he was but it would've been awkward for the both of them to say the least. A quick note passed through his mind that it was getting darker out but he was distracted as Tavros inhaled softly. "So this is what it's like up here?" The question didn't seem to be directed to anyone in particular but Gamzee figured he'd answer it anyways.

"Motherfuckin' nice up here, isn't it?" A little to high up for his tastes but if you didn't think about it it wasn't so bad. Tavros didn't seem to mind it all though. If anything, he was practically bouncing with excitement.

The dragon circled around for a while as the two trolls chatted quietly between themselves; discussing past memories and what sort of antics their friends were putting them through on a regular basis until it really was dark out. The dragon soon banked into a lazy turn to begin a decent to the ground. This time, Gamzee was more prepared for the impact of the landing and braced himself as the dragon's paws made contact. The massive wings folded themselves up and Tavros turned around to face Gamze. Heaving a winded sigh, running his hands through his dishevled mohawk, "Well... It's, uhm, getting late. You should probably head back, huh?"

Gamzee's lip curled lightly at the thought but he nodded nontheless. He watched Tavros' brows furrow lightly about something but he slid off the dragon's back to the ground instead of saying whatever was on his mind. "Well, I'll see you later then, Gamzee. I, uh, mean... You _will_ be back, right?"

So _that_ was what had been bugging him.

"Well, I figure I did make an appearance today, didn't I?"

Tavros had to smile at that and he nodded lightly in agreement, "You did."  
"So don't let it go through your think-pan that a motherfucker won't be making visits."

A small laugh bubbled up from the brown-blood's lips and he stepped away to give the dragon some wing room as she prepared to fly again, "Oh, and, uh, Gamzee?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Thanks for showing me the, uhm...the dragon."

The blank expression on Gamzee's face remained but, eventually, a small smirk twitched on the corners of his lips, "Not a single problem I saw with showin' my bro such a thing." He stated before steadying himself as the dragon flapped off the ground. With a quick glance over his shoulder, Gamzee could spot Tavros waving after him and, after a moment of careful consideration, the gesture was returned.


	12. Calm Before the Storm

True to his word, Gamzee did return to visit the lowbloods that he seemed to be forming some odd sort of friendship with. He was getting along just fine with Tavros and Karkat for the most part but the others had the same sense of unease he did around them. It was understandable though. They weren't supposed to be making friends, they were supposed to be killing one another.

Gamzee was just a wolf pretending to be a sheep.

But he never found out. And what he didn't find out would never hurt him...  
Or anyone else.

Gamzee had realized something about Tavros over the course of the days he'd spent with him and it was just how easy it was to pick up on the little details of Tavros' behavior. Of whch, he was pleased to see, few had changed. From the way he turned such a dark shade of brown as his blood rushed to his face whenever Aradia was bold enough to mention how well the two of them were getting along to the way he toyed with his fingers when he was nervous about something. But Gamzee had gotten quite a surprise when the lowblood had dared to give him some sass in response to some gentle teasing about his height.

_"Have you gotten any fuckin' taller, Tav, or are you just naturally this short?" "W-well...not all of us can be tall, lanky-as-fuck highbloods, now can we?"_

Judging from the grin he'd gotten during the following silence, his facial expression must've been particularly amusing to him. He hadn't expected it though. The Tavros he'd remembered from when they were younger would simply duck his head and blush if confronted with his teasing remarks. The sudden change, while surprising, was actually pretty fucking funny.

Like father like son, he supposed.

The war itself had even slowed down. Because of a 'serious fuckin' lack a militaristic organization', or so Eridan had ranted over dinner one evening.

But Gamzee had never considered he'd start letting his own guard slip.

He'd gathered together his belongings for the day and bounded for the door, pulling it open only to practically run over Eridan who was standing outside; hand curled into fist and hovering in the air as if he'd been getting ready to knock.

There was a moment of surprised silence as the two highbloods stared at each other but the seadweller was the first to break it. The fist that hovered in the air instead moved in front of his mouth and he coughed softly against it, "Gam-" He began but was suddenly baffled as the highblood slid his skinny frame out of the gap between himself and the doorway. "Gam, where the fuck do you think you're go- Gam! Would you fuckin' hold still for three gog damn seconds?" He hissed at indigo-blood, throwing a brief glance over his shoulder while his legs carried him after the subjugglator.

"What's the matter? Can't walk 'n talk at the same time?" Gamzee ventured with a raised brow.  
"Gam-"  
"Because last I can motherfuckin' recollect you're pretty good at-"  
"Gamzee! Fuckin'- would you listen to me for once?!"

A ringed hand swiftly caught him by the bicep and tugged him sharply to a stop, causing the gentle smirk on Gamzee's painted lips to fall away into a frown. One look at the way Eridan's dark brows were furrowed over the rims of his glasses and the near pleading expression lingering in his violet irises was enough to convince Gamzee to shut up and listen because whatever he had to say was certainly worth listening to.

Once the seadweller saw that Gamzee was going to stay put and quiet did he finally release his arm and lifted his hands to run his fingers quickly through his hair with a calming breath passing his lips. "Listen, Gam, I don't think it's a good idea to be runnin' out anymore an- don't give me that look! Just sit still and listen. You've been sneakin' out for how long now? You're not goin' to be able to duck under the radar forever."

Oh, so he'd only wanted to lecture him.

The curious expression slowly slid away into a blank look as Eridan continued on to explain their situation and the war, and their situation _in_ the war and blah-glub-blah. He'd tuned out at some point and finally decided it was time to break out of this little feels jam session and get going since he was burning precious time away just standing here. "That's fascinatin' Eridan, as much as I'd love to-"  
"Gam."

The dead serious tone drew him to another stop and he pursed his lips questioningly, his gaze roaming over the violet-blood in an attempt to get a read on what he had his panties in a twist about. "Look, if you got something residing in that violet-blooded think-pan of yours just come out with it already."

"You're father's catchin' on."

_That_ was cause for concern.

"What d'ya mean?" He mused, his own tone dipping a level down to a soft murmur.

"I meant just what I fuckin' said. Highblood's been askin' around for you more often lately and it's only a matter a time before he catches on to these stupid trips into enemy territory to go run around with lowbloods. Do you know how much shit is goin' to go down when he does, Gam? Because I don't think you fuckin' do. Let me give you the run down a what's goin' to happen though-"

The seadweller was silence by a hand swatting his shoulder, "Stop, Eridan. I get it. You've driven this motherfuckin' nail of awareness into my skull enough for one day. It'll be fine. He won't figure a motherfuckin' thing out. I'm takin' some precautions. Just keep him off my ass the best you can." He stated quickly before turning to run off down the hall leaving Eridan to frown after him.  
"There's only so much I can do, idiot..."

There had to have been bad vibes going through the air to make everyone so tense because it had even managed to catch on with the lowbloods. Karkat had been considerably more irritable than usual for some reason but Gamzee had never gotten the chance to venture into it as he was pushed off in the opposite direction by Tavros. The male having come scrambling over when word reached him the highblood was back again.

"What the motherfuck's goin' on, Tav?" Gamzee demanded curtly, fixating a stern look onto the lowblood as he was pushed along.

There was a brief look of hesitation that crossed his face; clearly not wanting to give away information. He finally seemed to come to a conclusion and heaved a sigh, releasing Gamzee once they were a fair distance out of the range of possible eavsdroppers, "It's not anything about you, Gamzee, so don't take it personally but...uh...well, we're getting antsy. The highbloods haven't done anything for a while and Sufferer's been anxious and it just, uhm, s-sorta rubs off on everyone else." He flashed a half-hearted grin and shrugged a shoulder lightly, "Y'know. He's supposed to be the strong one out of all of us so when he starts getting nervous..." The rest was pretty clear so he left it at that.

"Oh." The highbloods _had_ been unnaturally quiet lately, hadn't they? Even Gamzee himself had to wonder what they were planning. Something big no doubt. The Condesce liked to make a spectacle of things and his father was more than happy to oblige. He couldn't help but wonder if he'd stayed at the castle more often instead of running off on his secret outings that, just maybe, he might've had an idea of what was being planned. Motherfuck, Eridan had a point when saying that staying put once in a while was a good thing.

For now, there was nothing he could do about it so he simply bobbed his head, "I see." The look Tavros was giving him proved the lowblood wanted to ask if he knew something about the highblood's movements but that'd be breaking the agreement both of them had made to keep the war out of their friendship. It'd been tough to do at times but they'd made it work so far. Despite the current peace with their little deal, Gamzee knew it wouldn't stay like that forever. At some point one of their sides was going to go down in a ball of fire and blood but for now, he didn't want to think on that.

Instead, he let Tavros take his hand as he was lead away back to the lowblood's tent. It was always so cozy in there- which may have been because of the vast amount of plush pillows that were strewn around- and it was dimly lit. Perfect for nap but Gamzee wasn't there to crash with his best bro at the moment, as appealing as the thought was. He ducked some to avoid getting his horns caught up in a portion of the tent that draped along a supportive pole. It'd happened the first time he'd ventured inside and he'd rather avoid such a thing again even though Tavros had about died laughing at the ridiculous display of Gamzee sulking quietly while he waited for the lowblood to quit laughing and help him untangle the pesky fabric.

Such a fate was avoided successfully this time around and he carefully picked his way through the books scattered along the pillows where Tavros liked to read and over to a small box seated on the table. He leaned his torso some so he could peer over Tavros' head to examine the tiny, fluffy white twitterbeast nestled inside. The feathery head tilted lightly to the side to better examine the trolls above it and gave a brief chirp.

"Looks like you worked some miracles on this feathery little brother while I was gone, huh?" He mused, moving an arm around Tavros so he could use a thin finger to gently rub at twitterbeast's head. The wing that had been previously injured seemed to have healed quite a bit. Of course, the compliment seemed to puff up the brown-blood's pride quite a bit, judging from the wide grin that had slapped itself onto his face. "I, uh, I guess I did, huh?" He agreed, reaching into the box to pull out the tiny bird and opened his mouth to speak as he turned around only to gasp sharply as Gamzee let out a yelp, staggering backwards with a hand clasped to the side of his jaw.

"Gamzee! Did I- oh my gog! I'm so sorry!" He exclaimed, realizing he'd forgotten just how large his horns were and succeeded in smacking him in the process of turning around with one. However, his initial horror and shame eased away as he realized the highblood had recovered from the brief shock and was now chuckling into his hand. "G-Gamzee! It's not funny! I thought I'd hurt you!"

"Hardly, Tav. It stings like a bitch but I'm pretty sure I'll motherfuckin' live." He drawled in response, pulling his hand away to examine the face paint that had been partially smeared in the process and sighed a bit. Fuck. He hadn't brought any with him either to remedy the smudging of grey and white.

He soon realized Tavros was staring him down and a brow raised softly, "What?"

Brown eyes widened as he started in surprise, "W-what?" he repeated, voice cracking some out of shock which he quickly masked with a slight cough, "I-I mean..." He began again, brows furrowing some in thought as he eyed his friend for a few more minutes, "Do you, uhm, always wear the face paint?"

Gamzee figured he must have been giving him a look crossed between bewilderment and amusement because Tavros pursed his lips into a thin line and shook his head, "Nevermind... That was a stupid question."

Indigo irises stared quietly at the lowblood who worried his lip between his teeth in an attempt to think of someting to change the subject. He was really that worried about his 'stupid question' of his, wasn't he?

A lazy smile slid its way along his lips with a brief snort, effectively getting Tavros' attention. Lifting an arm from his side, Gamzee slipped his thin fingers into the pocket of his pants, pulling out a cloth and ran it briefly over a cheek; wiping away the coat of white and gray paint in the process to reveal the skin underneath. A few wipes later he'd cleared away the paint to leave his face bare.

Honestly, he felt kind of naked without it since he'd been wearing it for so long.

"Well?" He ventured to Tavros, "Was it everything you ever had the pleasure of motherfuckin' dreamin'?"

The brown-blood's eyes scanned over his features for a moment; taking in the angle of his jaw and the curve of his nose and the way his smooth lips stretched into a grin when he noted that he was looking at him for too long which, in turn, made Tavros turn a light shade of brown.

Finally, he spoke, gaze lifting upwards to his eyes, "You- uhm... You look really weird without it."

The two looked at each other for a moment in a silence that was quickly broken as laughter bubbled past their lips.

"I'm kidding, Gamzee. You don't look half bad."

"Well fuck you too. Sassy motherfucker."

He'd made it a point to get back early enough to catch up with Eridan and Feferi in the dining hall by the end of the day. When he got there, however, only Feferi was there to greet him.

"Hey, Feferi... Where's Eridan?" He greeted, taking a seat on the bench next to her as she shrugged her slim shoulders.  
"No idea. I saw him earlier today. He might be caught up doing something though."

Whatever he was doing, it must've been taking him a while because he never showed to dinner and Feferi parted ways with Gamzee a while after to go turn in for the night. He figured that was a good idea as well and picked himself up from the bench to do so.

What he didn't expect was to see his father waiting for him in a chair when he opened the door.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry it took so long guys! College started and I've been busy as hell but I was also terribly uninspired (didn't help that I had my deadspacestuck fic distracting me) and then Hussie updated which lead to even more inner angst over this fic but then I went back and read all the nice reviews you guys have given me and it gave me the extra push to keep going with this fic. ;v; You all are so nice.


	13. For You I Could

Gamzee lingered in the doorway, hand clenched around the doorknob in a vice-like grip and he was thankful the handle was sturdy or else it probably would've shattered underneath the pressure.

Indigo eyes remained locked on one another, unmoving, neither set willing to back down and- in Gamzee's case- prove his guilt. But it was pointless, they both knew what he'd been trying desperately to hide and he finally turned his gaze downwards, quietly shutting the door behind him.

"Father."

"Gamzee."

Surprisingly, the tone was calm. The problem was Gamzee was well aware of the fact that a calm tone from his father usually came in front of a wave of trouble.

Another moment of silence and Gamzee could swear up and down the larger troll across the room from him could hear his blood pusher thudding anxiously in his chest. He didn't like the quiet. What the _fuck _was he planning?!

Gradually, Highblood stirred in his seat to lean forwards, propping his elbows on his knees to better eye his son. "Visiting the lowbloods..." His tone was a near whisper yet laced with disappointment, "I thought you'd have learned better but maybe it was your lusus' fault for not motherfucking _teaching _you right."

The mention of his lusus still struck a sour note with the young subjugglator and his brows furrowed slightly, the gesture nearly undetectable.

His _lusus,_ for one, had never been around much to teach him anything really and when you were little that hemospectrum _bullshit_ didn't matter. It was growing up that changed a troll and it was when you started to realize things weren't going to be as easy and carefree as they'd been back then.

"What have you been whisperin' to these rebels, Gamzee?"

The icy look in the adult troll's eyes was clue enough he better have heard something he liked and fast.

"Not a motherfuckin' thing."

"Then why go gracin' their pathetic existence with the presence of an indigo-blood?"

Gamzee's lips parted to answer but he stopped himself quickly.

_Tavros_.

Highblood noted his lack of a quick response and his painted lips curled into a sneer, "Nitram, I motherfucking _knew it_."

Oh sweet mirthful fuck.

Gamzee felt his blood run cold for a moment as he swallowed down the sudden lump of nervousness that lodged itself in his throat.

"Don't give me that look, boy." Came the sharp command and Gamzee ground his teeth together in response, "Come here."

For a brief, brave second, Gamzee considered giving him a flat out 'no' and a possible 'fuck you' but he knew the repercussions of such an action. Hesitantly, he forced his feet to move and made his way over to the chair. He tensed considerably as a a hand wrapped around a shoulder and tugged him closer as if he was about to be told a secret.

"You know I could have him culled for good this time."

He didn't dare say anything in response though he knew damn well his father would live up to his promise if he wanted to. But if Redglare could-

"And I won't have Redglare doing the deed this time either."

_What_.

The brief flash of panic that broke through his expressionless face must've been clue enough as to what was going through his head because Highblood started laughing, "You _honestly_ didn't let it cross your think-pan that I'd trust Redglare to get the job done a second time, did you? That's fucking _funny_."

The young troll's lips pursed into a thin line.

"You know I love a good motherfucking _joke_."

He stared up at his father for a few more breaths until he managed to summon up his voice, "Your point of letting a motherfucker in on this of this being?"

The mood sobered up quickly and the hand wrapped around Gamzee's shoulder tightened just a fraction, "Because, Gamzee, if you want to keep the little muck blood alive _you're_ going to have to do somethin' for _me_."

Fucking-...

"What exactly did you have floppin' around up in that think-pan of yours?" He ground out, trying to keep his tone even and calm. He knew his father and what he was good at; one sign of weakness and he'd be on it in a second. If not faster.

Slowly, the elder troll's lips quirked upwards into a devious smirk, "You're in good with the rebels, aren't you?"

A slight shrug of his shoulders.

"Don't bullshit, you are. They wouldn't let just _any_ motherfuckin' indigo blood wander into their camp. Now, all I want _you_ to do is sashay your way back."

As shocking as it seemed, there had to be a catch. It couldn't be that simple.

"Stick around; play their petty wriggler games, suck up to the Sufferer's brat, get _close_. Just get me some information while you do it and there won't be a single motherfucking problem."

There it fucking was.

Gamzee swallowed, tongue feeling heavy for once and all he could do was stare unblinkingly.

The smirk on Highblood's face fell away into a familiar scowl and the hand removed itself from his shoulder to firmly curl around the junction between his jaw and neck, "Unless you want me to be painting a motherfucking mural in brown next, I suggest you take a fucking miracle when it's dropped in your lap."

He was released, the slight pressure leaving his throat as his father stood to make his way for the door, pausing just before he left, "Don't fucking fail me, Gamzee."

The door shut with a startlingly soft click while Gamzee stood in a stunned silence.

What was he gonna fucking do _now_?

That was the question that scrambled his think-pan for the better part of, well, the entire fucking day.

Finally, when he could hear most of the castle at their afternoon duties, the subjugglator pulled himself out of his chair, gathered his things into a bag, and slipped quietly out of his room. Thankfully, the halls were lightly guarded and he could slip past them with years of experience from sneaking around the castle as a young troll.

He made it to the dragon's lair and noted Terezi seated on a rock, legs folded underneath her as she gingerly pulled apart a piece of meat between her fingers to drop into the open mouths of a batch of dragon hatchlings who hissed at one another over the pieces of meat.

Gamzee hesitated for a moment, fingers curling tighter around the strap of his bag and his fangs dug into his bottom lip. Well, he had to drop the fucking ball sooner or later. "Hey, Ter-"

"I already know, Gamzee."

Woah, wait. What?

The silence must've clued her in to his confusion for the blind girl turned her head towards the sound of his voice, "We both know. My Mother didn't figure it'd stay unknown for long. But he's not acting on it."

_'Yet...'_ Gamzee thought silently though nodded softly in response, "Yeah..." His indigo gaze lifted from the ground to look back up at Terezi, "Look, I'm gonna make this motherfuckin' right, okay? I just got some stuff I need to take care of first."

Blank red eyes blinked behind the rims of her glasses before a small smirk tugged at the corners of her lips, "Gamzee Makara suddenly being responsible. I thought I'd never see the day."

The somber look on his face grimaced just so slightly, shifting into an irked quirk of his brows and he huffed, "You really know how to push a motherfucker's buttons..."

The comment was gracefully ignored as Terezi's waved her free hand across the room to where Pyralspite was curled up, "_Why _are you sitting here wasting precious time then?"

As the sight of the camp swung into view through the slight pattering of clouds in the sky, Gamzee didn't feel as excited as he normally did to see it.

Once dragon touched down onto the ground, Gamzee slid off, patting the scaly white hide lightly as signal for the beast to leave and he made his own way off through the camp. As usual, it didn't take long to Tavros to find him. The lowblood always knew when he was coming thanks to his ability to commune with Pyralspite. If he could connect to the dragon, then that meant it was getting within his range of abilities which, in turn, meant Gamzee was with it.

"Gamzee!"

His head turned to look towards the lowblood who'd popped up between some tents and threw a wave in his direction. For a moment, Gamzee forgot why he was here and returned the gesture. Only when he realized how carefree he was being did the Highblood's words echo in his head.

Oh yeah...

Managing to keep a sincere, lopsided smile on his face, Gamzee picked his way through the groups of lowbloods milling around and over to Tavros, "What kind of mirthful blessin's have been gracing my bro today?" He greeted, a hand reaching out to tousle the fluffy mohawk on his head.

Tavros promptly swatted away the hand with a wrinkled nose, "I kicked Karkat's ass if that's what kind of 'blessings' you mean." He stated, a proud grin sliding over his face and a dark brow arched up Gamzee's forehead questioningly.

"Now what ill doings did Karkat do to warrant an ass whooping?"

For a moment, Tavros looked confused but it was gone as his grin returned, a chuckled leaving his lips, "Oh! No, no! We were, uhm, practicing, you could say. Sparring?"

_Oh_.

"No shit?" Gamzee mused before grinning, spotting Karkat coming up behind Tavros. Judging from the bruise he was nursing on his arm he had gotten quite the beat down.

"Wipe that shit eating grin off your gog damn face you miserable nook fucker." Karkat snapped at once, Gamzee quickly pursing his lips together to try to keep his facial expressions under control. "What did this fucker tell you? That he kicked my ass across Alternia and back I'm guessing? Well, too fucking bad for that story because I got a few hits in myself."

Gamzee threw a questioning look to Tavros who shrugged and nodded lightly in agreement.

Alright, so he may have gotten a few hits in but not many from the looks of it.

Karkat clearly picked up on their exasperated acceptance and promptly swatted Gamzee's arm, "If you think you're such hot shit, why don't _you _take on the bastard?"

His amused expression slid away in record time and his eyebrows furrowed, "What?" He had _not _signed up for that! But clearly he wasn't being given a choice as Karkat's smaller hand grabbed onto his wrist and promptly began dragging him off across the camp. Lips parted to start a protest but trailed off as a stretch of neatly packed dirt came into sight. Well, it would've been dirt had it not been for the rain that had come through the previous night apparently because parts of it were damp still while other areas were slick with mud.

A shove nearly sent him falling flat on his face but his long legs quickly moved to stumble along after him instead of staying rooted to the spot.

"Gimme your bag."

Gamzee swiveled his head to look to Karkat's outstretched hand, a pat against his shoulder alerting him to Tavros' presence.

"Come on, Gamzee. It'll be fun! And it won't take long if you, w-well, if you have something else to be doing today that is."

He _did_ have other things to be doing today. Things that would help keep most of his new friends- if they even considered him a 'friend' themselves- alive whenever-...whatever his Father was planning went down. But acting shady would get him nowhere.

"Fine, fine." He complied, handing over his bag after he undid the straps holding his metal clubs in place on the side. He handed the bag off to Karkat before gently patting the side of a club against Tavros' back, "Come on motherfucker, let's see what shit you got holed up in that flimsy lance of yours."

"Hey, don't hate on the lance."

The warning received a roll of his eyes and Gamzee turned to make his way towards the center of the makeshift practice field.

He probably should've known better than to turn his back.

Something hooked itself between his ankles and he went down with a yelp and into a muddy puddle. He didn't even bother getting up for a few moments out of shock. He slowly moving his arms out to push himself upright. The sound of laughter reached him, looking over his shoulder to see Karkat doubled over and nearly on the ground from laughing so hard while Tavros was close to joining him.

"Y-you shouldn't have- have let your guard down!" Tavros gasped between peals of laughter, leaning on his lance for support.

The little shit was going to get it.

Gamzee pursed his lips, eyes narrowing as he got to his feet, smearing away the mud off the front of his vest and into his hand which he unceremoniously lobbed right at Tavros.

The brown-blood let out a yelp as the cold substance splattered on impact against the front of him and he blinked in a stunned silence for a few seconds.

He was fast, Gamzee would give him that. He was almost entirely unprepared for the sudden point of a lance that came sailing towards him.

_'Almost_' being the keyword.

He batted aside the point with a club, grazing up the side to follow through with a warning swing at Tavros as he ducked out of the way, popping back up with a grin on his face, "Oh, yeah! This is going to be better than fighting Karkat!"

"Hey, I fucking heard that!"

"Just try to keep your motherfucking head in the game, Tav."

Another testing swing.

"Literally."

"That's not fair, I don't have anything to hit on you." It was hard to stab at something that was so lanky. A snicker left his lips as Gamzee lunged for him, slipping out of the way and bounding a few feet away. Lances weren't good at a close range after all but keeping Gamzee at bay was going to be a challenge.

The clanging of club against lance rang through the still air and more than once was Gamzee swatted to the ground by Tavros like an insect. Fuck, he was hard to get to. But he soon found once you got past the range of the lance it was easier to get a hit on him. Of course, blows were kept light, they weren't trying to kill.

And yet, the longer the skirmish continued, the more Gamzee's blood began to rush through his veins, noises in the background falling silent and tuning in only to the sound of their gasps for air, yelps of mild discomfort when a blow hit its mark, the sound of blood rushing in his ears and soon enough a sort of tunnel vision developed along with that familiar chant in the back of his think-pan.

_Blood, kill, motherFUCKING KILL!_

Inidgo eyes locked onto the lance making another swing for him and he twisted to hit it with a club, the force wrenching it out of Tavros' grip and sending it spiraling away elsewhere. In the time of span it took Gamzee to realize he'd made him drop his weapon, he'd tripped Tavros's feet out from under him and was hovering with a club poised to strike.

"-zee!"

What?

"Gamzee!"

The roaring noise in his ears faded abruptly and he stopped to give a confused look to the lowblood who was grinning up at him, "You won!"

He...

Won?

Tavros got to his feet, rubbing at his shoulder where he'd fallen for a moment, wiping mud off his cheek with the back of his hand, "I, uh, I guess I should've judged that attack better, huh?"

Gamzee realized he'd been asked a question and started briefly, "Oh, yeah." He returned the smile Tavros was giving him until he turned, the expression sliding off his face as he watched him go to pick up his lance.

_What _had he about motherfucking _done_?!

He was pulled from his troubled thoughts as Karkat came over, waving his hands at them with a frown, "Alright, Alright. You two have kicked enough asses for one day though I am glad someone fucking put your ass in place, Nitram. You two look like some strange species of mud creature and I suggest you go clean up right the fuck now before Kanaya gets a hold of you."

Tavros immediatley grimaced at the thought and grabbed onto Gamzee's hand, "Ugh, yeah. Let's get cleaned up before this stuff dries."

The highblood allowed himself to herded off to a series of hot springs that laid just beyond the perimeter of the camp and holy _shit _that looked relaxing as fuck.

Gamzee had no problem with depositing the bag Karkat had handed back to him on the ground and began stripping out of his muddy clothes next to it. He was in the process of getting into the water when he realized Tavros was slacking. "Need some help?" He inquired, noting that the lowblood had only managed to get the front of his jacket unzipped and was staring at him.

He floundered for a moment, cheeks flaring up a dark chocolaty color as he pulled the material off his shoulder, "N-no I'm good thank though!"

Gamzee didn't bother to question as the warm water was calling his name. Sinking into it, he flinched, hesitating as his body adjusted to the increase in temperature before settling in with a content sigh.

Motherfucking _perfect. _

An eye opened as he heard Tavros enter the water as well. The sight of patches of mud drying on the length of his horns caused a grin to quirk his lips and he chuckled. When the lowblood gave him a look, he pointed as an indication, watching him rub off some damp mud and scowled, lips pursing into a line, "You look just as bad as I do."

Ugh, he didn't even _want_ to see what he looked like at the moment.

Gamzee stuck out his indigo-tinted tongue simply before taking a breath of air and going under the water. He took a moment to rub at his face to get the mud-smeared paint off and to get it off his hair and horns as well.

Along with taking a few seconds for his own personal time to think over the latest series of events.

How was he going to get information out of Tavros? They'd both pledged to keep that out of conversation but now he didn't exactly have a fucking _choice _on the matter. And he couldn't tell Tavros. If anyone else found out about it it'd cause even more of a mess than already was looming on the horizon.

Not to mention he'd almost gone through with killing him. Something he'd never thought he'd even consider.

His warm stay in his sanctuary was cut short once he realized he needed air and emerged back to the surface with a slight gasp, shaking his limp bangs out of his eyes. Tavros seemed to have done the same since the mud was gone but his wet mohawk kept getting in the way of his vision.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a moment until Tavros spoke.

"Gamzee... What's wrong?"

The question had been unexpected and he had no idea how to respond, instead settling on staring at him until something came to mind. "What?" He mused, a smirk crossing his lips, "Everything's chill... Besides having a few colorful bruises and being sore for a day or two thanks to the what your swinging arm gave me, it's fucking wonderful up in here."

Tavros' brows furrowed slightly and he glanced away, "Gamzee, there's something up. You've been acting weird since you got here. I knew you enough when we were little to know when you're faking that goofy smile of yours."

Well fuck.

The slight smirk on his lips fell away and Gamzee sighed, resting his head back agains the edge of the spring to close his eyes for a moment.

"It's just getting all kinds of motherfucking stressful back at the Court is all." He said after a moment, lifting his hands out of the water to drag the heels of his palms across his eyes, "War shit and all that."

Hands gripped his wrists and gingerly tugged them away from his face and indigo eyes met brown.

"That's not it, is it?"

Gog damnit why did he have to be so perceptive?! A heavy sigh left his lips before he spoke.

"...When we were fighting and shit... I kind of... Fuck I don't even know, Tav. I kind of lost my shit I think. I _wanted _to kill you. It was, like, something came over me and-..." At least it really was bugging him but not the entire truth, "I don't even fucking know, Tav."

Tavros seemed to accept that excuse, much to Gamzee's relief.

"But you didn't."

"Tav-"

"You could've. But you didn't." Tavros interrupted again, "You had the upper hand and you could've done it if you really wanted to." A smile crossed his lips, trying to pull one out of Gamzee, "But you really didn't want to. See? It's simple logic really. You can't make yourself do what you don't want to."

He did have a point in his own way if one believed it... And Gamzee had to admit he believed what Tavros was saying. But it didn't make it any less unsettling for him. But his mild discomfort slid away the moment he felt lips against his own.

Indigo eyes widened slightly to stare at Tavros, grabbing onto the male's hands that where pressed against his cheeks with a questioning hum. The thought to pull away crossed his mind but the warm, soft lips against his own deterred him from going through with it, his own lips pressing back gently after a few second

Tavros must've felt him relax under the hold on him for he pulled away to scan over his features which were slightly furrowed in a look of confusion.

"Y-you know, I had a flush crush on you when we were younger." He explained, lips quirking into a small smile, a nervous laugh sliping past his lips. "Sort of. I wasn't really sure what it was I just knew that I liked you and you weren't like-...like the other highbloods. But we were young and I knew you'd grow up to be like the others."

Somewhere through the wheels turning in Gamzee's head, he picked up on the comment and his brows furrowed, lips quirking into a clear frown. He thought he'd be like every other highblood that crossed a lowblood's path?! Before he could even start to protest, Tavros interupted, "_And _I didn't think I'd ever see you again after what happened. But here you are and you haven't changed. Not really." His lips pursed together for a moment before an unbearably cute snort sounded from him, "W-well, besides from getting taller and lankier."

"Heeeyyy-"

Another small kiss kept him quiet, "Even if you think you have you're still..." How to word it? "You're still the Gamzee I know on the inside."

Wow...

He was pretty fucking trusting wasn't he?

Gamzee stared quietly at the lowblood who was smiling at him. He seemed so sure that Gamzee was a good troll when Gamzee himself wasn't even sure who he was anymore. For some reason, it struck a chord and before he even knew it, indigo-tinted tears had welled up in his eyes.

The smile on Tavros' face fell away at once into a look of shock, "G-Gamzee?! Oh my gog, what's wrong? Was it something I said! Oh shit, no, Gamzee, stop!" He squeaked, papping the highblood's face between his hands with a look of panicked uncertainty.

LIfting a hand, Gamzee carefully stilled the fluttering touches with a chuckle, wiping at his eyes with a sniff, "No, man, no. It ain't your fault." He assured him. He wasn't even sure how to explain what had happened but what the lowblood had said definitely hit him where it hurt.

Tavros stared at him for a moment before smiling, "Eridan's rubbing off on you, huh?"

"Motherfuck. Most likely."

"Well, I'll just have to, uh, make it better then." Tavros ventured, leaning up to press a few soft kisses aganst his lips. Gradually, Gamzee let his eyes fall shut and he moved his hands down to pull the brown-blood's face closer, tongue sneaking from between his lips to brush at the crease between Tavros's. A small hum sounded from him before the lips parted to let Gamzee inside, tongue flicking softly at the other.

At some point, their teeth knocked together and both pulled away sharply with startled looks, Gamzee covering his mouth with a hand before smiles broke out across their faces almost simultaneously, followed by Tavros' quiet giggling and Gamzee's honking laughs. The embarrassment forgotten, Gamzee put his hands back against Tavros' sides, fingers trailing down to his waist to pull him closer, lips finding their way along his neck.

Claws dug into his arms as fangs dragged gently across along his throat, sending a shiver through the lowblood that Gamzee could easily detect underneath his hands. The sensation of something curling up against his stomach made him pause and pull away for a moment, brows furrowed lightly in concentration to try to figure out what it was. The fierce blush across Tavros' face was answer enough.

He seemed to realize what the sudden grin on Gamzee's face was and he lifted his hand to push away his face, "Quit g-grinning like that!" He hissed all up until Gamzee's fingers moved down to grab the unfurled bulge between his fingers. A sharp gasp was elicted from Tavros at the sensation and his thighs squeezed against Gamzee's waist, pressing his hips up into the touch as Gamzee turned his face back to kiss against the palm clasped over his mouth.

The bulge wrapped itself around Gamzee's fingers when the highblood prompted it with teasing, light strokes, constricting more when his own bulge began to unfurl from his seedflap and pressed against the crook of his pelvis.

"Fu-... Gamzee..." Tavros breathed, eyes squeezing shut when a finger pressed and slid its way down the side of his bulge, bucking against the hand as his claws drug thin lines of indigo along the troll's biceps. It stung a bit, but it wasn't anything Gamzee couldn't handle and he simply leaned down to press a small kiss against the lowblood's cheek.

"Gamzee I sw-wear to fuckin'-"

Oh shit, he got pissy when someone teased him for too long didn't he?

"Hush, Tav. Don't get your bulge all in a twi-...oh, wait. My bad motherfucker."

Before Tavros could follow through with giving him an earful, he carefully removed his fingers from the tangled mess of his bulge and pulled him closer until his own snagged the soft appendage that was seeking out for the fingers that had left it. Clearly it liked the bulge that replaced them much better since it latched onto Gamzee's with a fierce constriction that made a shock of pleasure lace up spine.

Tavros leaned up to press a kiss against the subjugglator's lips, fingers winding around his neck to tangle at the base of his damp, wavy hair, pulling him down further. Gasps and pants- followed with the occasional colorful curse from Tavros- sounded against each others lips as their entwined bulges writhed and twisted against one another. The warm spring water only succeeded in making it feel hotter than it already was and an aching throb hit his gut, making him grunt softly into another kiss Tavros had placed on him.

He nipped gently against the brown-blood's bottom lip and pulled away with a breath of air, "Tav, I don't think I'm gonna be able to keep this up for much more if you keep squeezing like that." He grumbled, hissing softly as the lowblood's bulge coiled further down towards the base of his own.

"It's n-not my fault!" Tavros gasped in response, whimpering softly with the need for his own release. Gamzee couldn't help but smirk, leaning down to lick and suck on Tavros' neck, an arm wrapping around his waist, pulses of pleasure running through his body before he came with a muffled grunt; teeth biting down onto Tavros' shoulder and bulge constricting tightly around the brown one tangled in its grasp. The sudden pressure around his bulge must've done Tavros in as well for he was quick to follow, brows furrowing as he dug his teeth into his lip, hips bucking forward to grind against Gamzee's as he rode out the orgasm. the indigo and brown genetic material spreading out in the water before it disappeared entirely.

Once the rush of sensations began to dull away, Gamzee opened his eyes, peering at the quiet landscape over Tavros' shoulder before sitting upright with a deep, exhausted breath. Lips pressing against his collar bone got his attention and his gaze turned downwards to Tavros who had slumped against him and was lazily pressing kisses on him. He leaned down to nuzzle against the damp mohawk, arms wrapping around his shoulders.

They stayed like that for ten minutes longer before Tavros spoke, "We need to head back."

"Fuck that."

"You want Karkat coming to hunt us down?"

"...Twice fuck that. Let's get going." He reluctantly removed his arms so Tavros could get up and out of the water, Gamzee quickly following suit. He made his way over to the bag flopped on its side nearby and rummaged through the contents, pulling out a clean, black, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of his baggy black pants.

He was in the process of getting his shirt on when he realized Tavros was staying put and it then hit him.

They hadn't brought along any other clothes for him.

"Oh...shit." He couldn't exactly just got waltzing back into the camp without clothes on. After a moment of thought, Gamzee rummaged through the contents of his bag and pulled out another of his shirts, handing it over. Tavros looked at it for a moment before grinning, "Thanks, Gamzee." He grabbed it and, with some difficulty and Gamzee's help, maneuvered it over his horns.

"There, that'll keep all the goods covered till we get back." He commented reassuringly, gathering together his muddy clothes under an arm, grabbing his bag in with the other to sling up onto his shoulder. He waited for Tavros, the lowblood gathering together his own clothes before scampering over to fall into step next to the highblood. They walked in a calm silence before Gamzee felt a hand sneak itself into his own. Turning his gaze downwards to note the warm hand in his own, a gentle smile tugged at his lips, "You look like you're wearing a motherfuckin' dress."

"It's not my fault your shirts are huge."

"You might up and have a growth spurt one day, Tav, who knows."

He let the lowblood lead him back to his tent and set down his things on the floor, quickly flopping over to the pillows littering the floor with a content sigh.

He didn't even realize how fucking tired he was until now.

Something wriggled itself under his arm and he opened an eye to watch Tavros get situated underneath it, nose wrinkling slightly as the lowblood tapped it with a finger, "You should sleep. You look, uhm, well, pretty tired."

"Don't mind if I do." Gamzee mused, hugging Tavros closer, a cheek resting on the side of one of his horns so he could cuddle him properly.

It took him a while to fall asleep though, the thoughts wreaking havoc through his head. Tavros had gone out minutes ago, the steady rise and fall of his chest signal that he was out for good. Indigo eyes opened to watch. How was he going to get information out of him? Tavros trusted him and it would be hard to just stab him in the back like that...

After a few minute more of turning thoughts over in his head, Gamzee's eyes shut as he decided.

He wasn't going to do that to Tavros.

He wouldn't throw away that kind of trust.

He'd find another way around his Father's threat.


End file.
